Music We Made Together
by Dragons4ever
Summary: My fills for the 30 Day OTP Challenge featuring SoMa. Ratings are mostly T but some will go up to M.
1. Holding Hands

**A/N: I decided to do this challenge because I'd thought it be a fun and would actually make me work hard to write every single day. So yeah. Also because I'm stupid.**

**Day 1- Holding Hands**

* * *

At first he is hesitant. He's eleven and she's twelve and he has never really held a girl's hand before. But it's necessary so he makes sure to roll his eyes and huff heavily before grasping her small hand in his.

He's glad she wears gloves so she can't feel how sweaty his palms are (he can't mess this up, he can't go back).

A year later he's no longer hesitant. He has gotten over the fact that his meister is a girl and he can ignore Star's teasing about having a crush on the violent blonde. She's his best friend, how can he not be comfortable with her? Her hand is still tiny but it's warm and strong in his.

His palms aren't sweaty but he's still glad she wears gloves because girls in general are kinda gross, even if this particular girl is pretty cool. Not that he will tell her that.

Two years later, he's fourteen and she's fifteen. Suddenly she has curves and his heart flutters every time she smiles softly at him. Star no longer teases him about crushing on her (he has no room to talk, what with the way he looks at Tsubaki). He has growth spurts and her hand is suddenly so much smaller, _she_ is so much smaller.

He can reach for her hand outside of battle and feel her bare palm against his. He's thankful she never says anything about his sweaty palms (his heart thunders in his chest when he realizes hers are just as sweaty).

Another year later he isn't just holding her hand but he's holding _her_. She fits right against him perfectly and he can almost forget they aren't actually dating. He's fifteen and he can't ignore the fact that she's sixteen and beautiful, can't ignore the fact that the warmth blooming in his chest is a love that burns so strong it should scare him. But it doesn't.

He can reach for her hand fearlessly and delights in the feel of her bare skin against his.

Six months later, just after he turns sixteen, after the Eibon debacle, she's tiny under him, warm and loving and _all his_.

She grabs his hand as he moves above her and the feel of her fingers digging into the back of his hand as she holds onto him as tight as she can is what gets him. It's embarrassing (Star will never hear of this) but it's warm and satisfying and as she strokes his hair back she still holds his hand.

Four years later he holds his hand out for her without hesitation as she steps up to the altar, dressed in white and nearly in tears she's so happy. If he weren't so focused on her he would see Spirit crying in the first row, his brother standing behind him with Star and Kilik as his groomsmen, Tsubaki and the Thompsons behind Maka as her bride's maids, their families and friends spread across the church pews.

Her hand is as warm and strong in his as it was when they first met and as they turn to Kid to begin the ceremony, he knows that this is where he's meant to be.


	2. Cuddling Somewhere

Maka tried not to huff as she pulled the hot bag of popcorn out of the microwave. It was Friday night, movie night in the Eater-Albarn household, a time for Maka to snuggle with her weapon as they watched something ridiculous. But instead of _private time_ they had—

"Oi, pigtails, where's the popcorn!?"

"Black*Star, don't be rude."

_Houseguests_.

She sighed and emptied the bag into the third plastic bowl. They had learned their lesson at Kid's; Maka, Black*Star and Patti needed their own bowls otherwise war would break out. Or there would be multiple homicides. Each guilty party could share just fine with their partners, just not with each other.

Maka picked up the bowls, keeping the warmest tucked against her elbow and holding the other two by the rims. Leaving the kitchen she found everyone had already procured places in the living room.

Kid and the twins had taken up the couch opposite the TV, Black*Star and Tsubaki had claimed the floor (the coffee table had been moved to the hallway), and Soul was tucked into the armchair. Maka dealt out the popcorn and then stood awkwardly to the side.

The couch was full and she had no desire to sit on the floor. From what Tsubaki had told her (entirely shamelessly and nauseatingly detailed) Black*Star couldn't be trusted to keep his hands to himself, even in company. That didn't leave her with any room to sit.

She caught Soul jerking his head in her periphery and turned her head to look at him. He smiled and pulled the blankets back, indicating his lap. She blushed a little but made her way towards him anyway, flicking off the lights as she went. He was warm against her back as she settled into his lap, tugging the blanket back over them and resting the popcorn on her legs.

His arms wrapped around her and his chin hooked over her shoulder. "Remember to share," he whispered and she fought to suppress her shiver.

"Ugh, you two are gross, let's start the movie already!" Black*Star said and waved at Liz to get the remote.

"You're the only gross one here, idiot!" Maka hissed, grumbling when she felt Soul press a smile into her neck. "Why'd you invite him?" she asked, just for his ears.

"I _didn't_," he answered, shifting slightly behind her, breath warm against the nape of her neck. "He invited himself when I told him we had movie night."

"Then why did you tell him about movie night?"

She could _almost_ pretend her heart didn't thump erratically in her chest when she felt his chuckles rumble through her back. But she'd never been very good at lying to herself.

"Because—" a jolt travelled down her spine as his breath brushed past her ear "—he wouldn't stop asking when I was going to ask you out on a date. I told him we had this but he wasn't convinced this counted, hence why we have witnesses now."

She grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it into her mouth to try and stop herself smiling too widely. He pressed a soft kiss to her jaw and squeezed is arms around her in a facsimile of a hug. Then he grabbed his own handful of popcorn and chewed it noisily by her ear.

She elbowed him and focused on the movie instead of cuddling her weapon-partner-slash-maybe-not-so-secret-boyfriend.

"You're an idiot."

"You love me anyway."

"Shut up."

"Oh me, both of you shut up, we're trying to watch some quality gore, _if you don't mind_," Black*Star shouted.

Maka squeaked and hid her face in the blanket while Star and the Thompsons cackled.


	3. Gaming or Watching a Movie

"Go fuck yourself with something large and sandpapery!"

"Oh my god, Maka."

"What? He was clearly cheating! Black*Star always finds a way to cheat!"

"Ha! You just can't accept my godly skills."

"Why you little—!"

"Whoa, hey, no, no, no, we are _not_ allowed to kill our friends, no matter how annoying they are. Here, sit here, then I can restrain you before you kill someone. Mariokart is not a good excuse for murder."

"It's OK for you, he plays fair with _you_!"

"Trust me, he doesn't."

"Black*Star, it's getting late, we should probably head home now."

"But _Bakiiiii—_"

"C'mon, I think we still have some of that ice cream from yesterday left in the freezer; we can have some if we go home now."

"Whoop! Well, night peons, try not to miss me too much while I'm gone, you'll see my godly visage tomorrow."

"You're insufferable."

"Haha! Oh, and Soul?"

"What?"

"Try not to lose your cool with Miss Tiny-tits in your lap."

"You're a little shit, y'know that?"

"I'm anything but _little_ Soul."

"Ugh, go away!"

"Ahahahaha!"

"Good night Maka, see you tomorrow at the courts?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there Tsubaki."

"..."

"Ugh, why does he always slam the door so hard? He's so _obnoxious_, why's he your friend?"

"He was your friend first!"

"Whatever, let's keep on playing, I know you wouldn't dare cheat."

"Heh, yeah, cool guys don't cheat, _remember~_."

"Also you know I'd Maka-chop you into next week if you did."

"That too, Jesus woman, you're so violent."

"You love it really _masochist~_. Ha! Red shell!"

"Ah, fuck, fuck, fuck! Why am I in 6th place!?"

"Ha take that Yoshi—wait, is that a _blue shell_!?"

"Fuck yeah, first place baby!"

"What, no! Fuck you! You're on the couch tonight!"

"Wha—it's just a game, Maka!"

"Nope, you blue-shelled me. You're on the couch. For a _week_.

"Fine, but you're here with me."

"Sou—mpf!"


	4. On a Date

"Now, are you sure you're gonna be OK Blair? I know Lottie can be a bit of a handle sometimes," Maka said, eying her daughter in the arms of the purple-haired magic-cat.

"It'll be alright kitten, Bu-tan knows what she's doing. You and scythe-boy go and enjoy your date," the older woman replied, jiggling the baby on her shoulder. "Lottie and Blair will be best friends by the end of the night, you'll see."

Maka hummed by didn't take her eyes off her child, unconvinced but unsure whether she should cancel the night they had planned.

"You ready Maka? We'll need to leave now if we want to make the reservation," Soul said, straightening the sleeve of his blazer as he came out of their room.

"Ah, yeah, I'm ready."

She picked up her clutch and shawl from the kitchen table. Holding her clutch bag tightly in her hand, Maka turned back to Blair.

"Remember, she's been fed so she won't need any more food. Talk to her and play until eight, then she _has_ to go own for the night otherwise she'll need an extra nap tomorrow and won't sleep later. Oh and change—"

"—her diaper before she goes to sleep, Bu-tan knows. Maka-chan has only told her _five times_."

Maka's cheeks pinked a little but she didn't look away from the cat's golden gaze. "Sorry, I'm just—it's our first time leaving her with a baby sitter, so I'm a little, ah..."

"Paranoid?" Soul offered, coming up behind her and laying a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine, now _c'mon_."

Maka threw a glare at her husband before turning back to Lottie. "OK, mama's gonna go now but I'll be back before morning." She pressed a kiss to her daughter's downy head, where wisps of very fair blonde were beginning to grow. "Be good for Auntie Blair."

Lottie gurgled and smile a gummy smile, reaching out for her mother's face with pudgy hands.

Maka grinned and shook her daughter's tiny fist before taking a step back so Soul could come forward and give their baby a kiss as well.

"Have fun kiddo," he said softly and tickled the infant under her chin, smiling affectionately as the baby giggles and flailed her arms.

"Alright, see you at ten Blair," Maka said, grabbing Soul by the arm and tugging him away from their daughter. "Come on, you said the reservation was at seven."

They walked out the door, both throwing one last good bye over their shoulder before they shut the door behind them. Down the stairs, into the car and then they were on their way.

"I think we'll get her to speak within the next month," Soul began when they stopped at a red light a few minutes later. "When you were in Portugal last week she got really close to saying 'mama'."

Maka smiled and rolled her eyes. "She might be saying it but she won't understand it _just_ yet, Soul. She's still very young."

"Maybe she'll be a fast learner, just like her mother."

She threw him an unconvinced look which he merely smiled and winked at.

"You're ridiculous," she sighed, though she couldn't keep the grin off her face or out of her voice.

"Well, you married me _and_ had my kid, so I don't know what that says about you, _sweetheart_," he teased, grinning crookedly.

"I was clearly delusional," she said dryly. "I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to this."

He grinned wider, keeping his eyes on the road and reaching over to squeeze her knee. "Well, it's too late to back out now, you're stuck with me for life."

"Oh no," she deadpanned. "Whatever will I do? How will I survive with only a bubbly baby, a loving husband and great sex? What's a girl to do in such difficult circumstances?"

"Speaking of that amazing sex, we could always call Blair and ask her to stay till midnight and find a motel room. Or something. If you want," he offered, glancing over to meet her green eyes with his own crimson ones.

She smiled and looked out the side window. "Let's see if we can make it through dinner before we make any plans, OK?"

"What, don't you trust Blair with Lottie?"

"It was more thinking we might be completely exhausted by the time we've eaten and just want to go home." Maka shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I've been pretty tired, what with looking after Lottie and then the supervisions I've been on."

He huffed a little laugh out of his nose. "Y'know you didn't have to start working again. You can always ask for a little more time, I could start taking on some missions if you want to stay home with Lottie."

"No, it's OK, we talked about this. The supervisions don't take long and aren't very often so I'm home as often and for as long as possible. It's just tiring." She reached for his hand on the gear stick and intertwined their fingers, giving his hand a squeeze. "Besides, I wouldn't be able to stay still for long, I'd go crazy."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say work-a-holic," he laughed, turning into the restaurant car park. "Let's just enjoy ourselves tonight, OK?"

"OK, but you've got to help me out of the car, I'm out of practice with heels," she huffed.

She swatted his arm with her bag when he laughed.

In the end they didn't even make it to dessert. It was a silent ride home as both tried to keep their eyes open. Thankfully Blair had done as they asked and put their daughter to bed so as they fell through the door they were able to simply thank Blair and then fall into bed.


	5. Kissing

"Well, it's not as bad as I'd thought it would be," Soul mumbled to Maka as she poured a ladle of punch into a cup. "Less people than Star said there would be."

"Told you~," Maka sing-songed, handing him the cup she had just filled before grabbing another one. "Kid wouldn't want too many people around him near Christmas, the decorations are bugging him enough as it is, he wouldn't want to deal with loads of people on top of that, no matter what the girls say."

Soul chuckled and took a sip of punch. "Knew he wasn't as whipped as he seemed."

"What, like you?"

Soul snorted some punch out of his nose and spluttered as Maka laughed, smacking him on the back to 'help' him.

"_No_," he finally managed to choke and she snorted at him.

"Sure, whatever you say _tough guy_. Let's go see the tree, apparently Kid let the girls decorate it this year and I wanna see what they did."

She grabbed his hand and dragged him after her, seemingly ignoring the glances their clasped hands got.

"You're being awfully _expressive_ tonight," Soul whispered after he caught up with her. "I thought you wanted to keep us under wraps as long as possible."

"Maybe I've changed my mind," she murmured back, shrugging a little.

"Why?"

"Ehhh, I don't know. Yolo."

"Oh my _god_, you did _not_ just say 'yolo'," he groaned, tugging on some of her hair, hanging loose around her shoulders for once. "That's so uncool, so uncool it offends me."

"You hipster," she teased.

"Stop right there you two!" a voice shouted and they froze, looking over to Liz who was pointing at them, a large smirk spread over her face.

"W-what?" Maka asked, fingers squeezing Soul's compulsively.

Liz's grin widened and she pointed up. Both Soul and Maka looked up to see the mistletoe hanging from the doorway they were walking through.

"Ah, _shit_," Soul breathed. "What do we do?"

"Uhhhh."

"C'mon you two, pucker up~," Liz sang.

Soul sweated a little as everyone's attention swung to them. There may not have been as many people as he had feared but there was still a considerable amount. He could have sworn he saw a few people hold up cameras and phones.

"Fuck it," he heard Maka whisper before she turned to him.

He raised an eyebrow before she pulled her hand from his and pushed her plastic cup into it instead. His eyes widened into saucers when she grabbed both of his cheeks, pulled his head down and pressed her lips hard against his.

And the kiss was most certainly not chaste, her tongue pushed through his lips to brush against his and trace his teeth. He wrapped his arms around her waist, making sure to keep the cups in his hands upright, and began to reciprocate just as fiercely. He pushed her tongue back into her mouth and started to taster the roof of her mouth.

At first there were cheers and a few wolf whistles, but as time went on and they continued to swap spit it became silent as the crowd watched on in shock. When Maka's hands moved into his hair and he began to lean over her people started coughing awkwardly but the pair refused to hear them.

Eventually, once people began to move away out of awkwardness, they broke apart panting. They shared a grin and Maka giggled before looking over her shoulder to a flabbergasted Liz, an embarrassed Tsubaki and a green-looking Black*Star beside her.

"That good enough?" Maka asked breathlessly. "Or should we go again?"

"No, dear god, _no_," Black*Star moaned and turned away. They faintly heard him say, "I'm gonna hurl."

"Since when," Liz began, voice growing louder and shriller as she spoke. "Since _when_ has _that_ been a thing!"

"Uhhhh," Soul mumbled, looking to Maka for support. She shrugged. "For about, two years now, right?"

Maka nodded and turned back to Liz, smiling a little sheepishly at the older blonde.

Thankfully Liz seemed too dumbstruck to say anything so Maka took the opportunity to take Soul's wrist and tug him away before she could come to her senses.

"Come on," she said. "Let's find some food."

"_Or_, we could find an empty room," he whispered against her ear.

She glanced at him slyly and grinned. "That too."


	6. Wearing Each Other's Clothes

Soul stared at the clothes laid out on his bed with the same trepidation he knew Maka was feeling in the room next to his. He sighed and warily picked up one of the pieces of fabric. Well, there was no backing out now. They'd gotten Blair to make sure they fitted into their clothes and now they just had to put them on and go to school.

Just like normal. Except not really.

The plaid fabric felt heavy in his hands and he gulped. Might as well get it over with.

Five minutes later he emerged from his bedroom to find his meister frying bacon in the kitchen. Adjusting the green striped tie around his neck he padded closer together. The swish of the skirt around his legs felt weird, he wasn't used to his thighs feeling so..._airy_.

He fell into a chair and shifted as soon as his ass hit the plastic, it was cold on his warm skin. Not for the first time he wondered if it was always like that for Maka. Nope, bad idea, he shouldn't be thinking about his meister's ass. Even if it did look good in his modified grey pants courtesy of Blair.

Maka turned when she heard him sit and forced a smile, trying to act as though it were a normal morning and not one that would lead into a day of humiliation.

"Good morning, Soul," she said and turned back to the stove. "Breakfast'll be ready in a few moments."

He grunted and propped his elbow on the table, resting his chin in his hand, and yawned.

The orange shirt she was wearing, something that had also been _his_, had also been modified so it was more form fitting. Maka (and Soul to some extent) had protested changing it, since she still fit in it either way (the same could not be said for Maka's skirt, no way was Soul fitting into that tiny thing without some magical assistance) but there was no stopping Blair once she had her mind set on something. Something about finally showing off the petite blonde's figure.

Which was stupid, Soul knew how great Maka's figure was, Maka knew how great Maka's figure was, who else needed to know? _Nobody_.

Annnnnd there was the jealousy. Right on cue. Thankfully, Maka placing a plate full of eggs, toast and bacon in front of him was sufficient distraction, though he did find himself repeatedly looking up from his food to run his eyes over her figure.

As he shovelled the food into his mouth, doing his best not to get it on his white shirt or yellow vest, he wished Blair hadn't adjusted the shirt or pants. Aside from the fact that he didn't want other people staring as his meister in form fitting clothes, because they were adjusted they didn't seem like his clothes anymore. And he kind of really liked seeing his meister in his clothes.

Once breakfast was done and their plates were soaking in the sink to be done once they got home after school, they slipped on their shoes and jackets and walked out the door. Maka's adjusted boots felt weird, as did her trench coat; it kept tickling his calves. Maka seemed pretty at home in his leather jacket though it swamped her a little.

Reaching his bright orange bike, out of habit he swung onto it and waited for Maka to join him but she stopped and stared at him instead.

"What?" he asked, raising a pale eyebrow.

"You should tuck the skirt underneath you, otherwise it'll fly up and you'll flash everyone," she said, gesturing to the offending article. "Remember, you told me that the first time I got on the bike."

"Oh, yeah." He'd forgotten about that.

He tucked the skirt under his ass and let her climb on behind him and bunch the tail of her (his now?) trench coat in her arms. He revved the engine and they shot off.

Pulling up to the stairs to the school, Soul caught sight of a certain blue-haired monkey waiting for them and snarled.

"Whoop, what up Soulie, Manka?" said blue-haired monkey crowed as they dismounted, bounding up to them.

"Piss off," Soul growled and pushed the other boy.

Black*Star laughed but then abruptly stopped. "Hey, wait, why isn't your hair in pigtails?" He pointed at Soul accusingly and then turned to Maka. "And why aren't you wearing a headband?"

"You said _clothes_ Black*Star," Maka pointed out. "Not hair accessories. If you wanted us to have each other's hair styles you should have specified that when you made the bet."

Star pouted for a moment but then his face split into a wide grin. "Ehhh, whatever, let's just get to class. I can't wait to see everyone's faces. Especially all the _fangirls_~!"

He bounded out of Maka's reach before she could pull the book out of her secret hiding place. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough to dodge her throw. Which was spot on as always.

"Ugh, you're an asshole. Come on Soul, let's just get this over with," Maka huffed, stuffing her hands into the pockets of the leather jacket she was wearing and stomping up the stairs.

Soul stayed where he was for a moment to watch her ass then ran after her, keeping his hands hanging loosely by his sides. He received a few wolf whistles as they walked into the building (though they _could_ have been directed at his meister) but he ignored them. He also ignored all the whispering of his fangirls during the rest of the day. He even managed to ignore Liz's jeering.

But he most _certainly_ did not ignore the attention his meister received. He memorized all the bastards' faces and made sure to glare as fiercely as he could at them until they out of sight, or they noticed and flinched back.

At least when they got home he was able to change into something more comfortable. And the next day, if he got into trouble for a few unofficial fights, well, he was only protecting his meister's honour (not that he would actually _tell_ her that, he'd get chopped for being sexist, she could fend for herself any day). It certainly had nothing to do with his possessiveness, nope, not him.

And if his clothes started disappearing more often after that, well he wouldn't complain. He still liked her in his clothes, though it _was_ a little annoying when she started taking his leather jacket.


	7. Cosplaying

Soul rubbed his eyes out and yawned widely. "Remind me again, _why_ are you getting me up at six in the morning?"

"_Because_, my cosplay costume will take some time to put on and I wanna be able to be one of the first to get into the con this morning. Then we can get the best stuff first and see if we can get any last minute tickets for the panels," Maka reminded him, poking her head out of their hotel bathroom. "You can get changed and go get some coffee from down stairs if you want."

"I think I might do that. You want me to get you some as well?" he asked, blinking at her a little blearily.

"Sure, the usual please," she said, smiling brightly.

He smiled a little in return and then she was back in the bathroom. He heaved himself up and changed into a pair of jeans and a band t-shirt before slipping on his shoes and going down to the hotel lobby where they had a buffet that had a coffee machine.

When he returned with two steaming cups of strong coffee, Maka was finally finished in the bathroom and was now starting to pull on her cosplay. Because she was an over-achiever she had gone for a book character's costume, a full suit of armour she had hand made herself and a six-foot, red and black scythe she had also made herself. In a word she was crazy but he had also seen her put it all on in a test and he had to admit it looked good. Even if it did take ages to put on.

She struggled tying some of the straps around her wrist and he sighed, padding up to her and brushing her hands away.

"Let me help you, dummy," he murmured, tying a knot deftly and testing it. "There. Other hand?"

Once all the bits she would need help with was done he grabbed her face and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

"What was that for?" she asked, smiling a little as she adjusted the chest plate a little, flushing slightly.

"What, 'm I not allowed to kiss my girlfriend?" he teased, tugging on her hair that was done up in pigtails to match those of the character's.

"Dork," she laughed, taking a step back and holding out her arms, turning around slowly. "How do I look?"

"Great." He gave her a thumbs up. "Now, let me just grab the bag and we can go."

She grinned and skipped to the door, picking up her scythe as she went. "I'll still sad that you didn't cosplay Maddy's partner, you have the right build for it."

"_Because_," he said, mimicking her tone and tweaking her nose as he shouldered the backpack. "I didn't want to have to wear medieval clothing, that's _your_ thing, nerd. I said I'd only do day one and I meant it. Now, let's go, I thought you wanted to be the first there."

She squeaked and slammed the door open, bounding down the hall to the elevator. "Come on, we're gonna be late!"

He laughed as he shut the door behind them. "I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your panties on."

The smack was totally worth watching her cheeks flush.


	8. Shopping

Getting caught in an underwear store by his meister-not-quite-girlfriend-but-definitely-more-than-friend was not an ideal situation for one Soul 'Eater' Evans. Especially when he hadn't been looking as disinterested in the articles sold there as he had claimed to be.

"_Why_ are you browsing through the baby-doll collections?" Maka asked, raising a thin (courtesy of Liz) blonde eyebrow.

"Uhhh, curiosity?" he squeaked, shrugging jerkily. "Black*Star's looking for somethin' for Tsubaki and he dragged me in with him. So, I, uh, decided to look around to see what the big deal was?"

She remained unconvinced. "_Sure_."

He felt his cheeks heat. "Well, why are you here?" he asked hotly.

Unfortunately he did not get the reaction he wanted, which was for her to blush, maybe smack him and then back off. Instead she shrugged and said, "I needed some new bras and the ones here are pretty."

His cheeks got hotter as he tried and failed not to think about her in just her bra and panties, especially in some of the lacy things he had seen in the store. Her next question caught him completely off-guard.

"Wanna help me look?" Her accompanying grin left no doubt in his mind what she wanted him to do.

"A-alright," he said, trying to look nonchalant despite his burning face.

He completely forgot about Black*Star and his 'plight' until he was just about to leave with his meister (and her _interesting_ purchases) and got tackled to the ground by the blue-haired menace.


	9. Hanging Out With Friends

Tsubaki watched her friend worriedly. The blonde had been strangely quiet all day and not for any usual reason.

From the looks Soul had been throwing Maka, the shadow arm could tell it hadn't been a fight between them, and Maka hadn't told her she was going on a 'daddy-daughter' date with Deathscythe anytime soon, so it wasn't because of a fight with her father either.

"Maka-chan?" Tsubaki asked softly as they sat in the library after school to work on a class project (that was _meant_ to be partner based but both girls knew their partner's wouldn't help or be interested).

"Hmm?" Maka looked up from her book, the deep frown she had been wearing smoothing into an open expression. Tsubaki had seen it enough times on the young meister's face to know it was mask. "What is it Tsubaki?"

The weapon shuffled her chair closer. "Is something bothering you? You've been very quiet today."

Maka's eyes widened a little and then she looked away, expression becoming a little sad.

When she didn't say anything Tsubaki pressed. "Maka?"

"{You're going to think it's stupid}," Maka mumbled, _in Japanese_.

_That_ got her attention, Maka only spoke in Japanese when she was either talking excitedly about her mother or she was harbouring a very deep secret.

Effortlessly switching to her native tongue, Tsubaki said, "{If it's bothering you, it's not stupid.}"

Maka's eyes met hers briefly and she seemed to struggle for words for a moment. Tsubaki was going to press her again when she blurted, "{I've fallen in love with my weapon.}" Then she hid her bright red face in her hands and groaned.

Tsubaki blinked. "{Oh}," she said. "{Is that it?}"

The meister squawked and gaped at her. "{What do you mean, 'is that it'?}" she hissed. "{This could seriously screw things up. He only likes me as a meister, not as a _girl_.}"

She couldn't help it, the shadow weapon snorted. "{Then you clearly hasn't seen the way Soul-kun looks you, it's like he's seen the sun for the first time whenever you walk into the room.}"

Maka's face turned even redder. "{You're exaggerating.}"

"{I'm really not.}"

The blonde fidgeted for a moment. Then she whispered, "{What do I do?}"

Tsubaki smiled. "{You get his attention. And then you make him sweep you off your feet.}"

"{How?}" Maka asked, looking at the older girl hopefully.

Tsubaki's smile morphed into a smug grin. "{First we go shopping. Then I'll tell you what to do.}"

Maka eyed her suspiciously. "{...Fine, but don't get the Thompsons involved.}"

"{I swear they will not get involved}," she said solemnly, silently adding **_yet_**. Switching back to English she continued, "Now, let's pack up and go, Reaper's Secret closes at five and I wanna go to Burial Boutique before we go there."

As Maka blushed and did as she was asked, Tsubaki began to think of all the fanfiction she had written about the meister and her albino deathscythe. If she were persuasive, maybe she would be able to make some of less innocent ones canon.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Maka asked as she swung her satchel over her shoulder. "It's kinda creeping me out."

"Don't worry about it," Tsubaki said, waving her hand with a smile. "Come on, let's go. {We'll make Soul-kun fall at your feet in submission once we're done.}"

The shadow arm smiled as the meister turned bright red again and spluttered.


	10. With Animal Ears

When Maka woke up one early Saturday morning, sprawled on top of her weapon on the couch, she discovered many things.

One: Soul had drooled in her hair and down the side of his own neck which was just..._gross_.

Two: He had also, at some point during the night, slipped his hands under her shirt and left them to rest on the small of her back.

Three: Blair was watching both of them with a gleeful expression.

And four: she now had a tail.

"Blair, what the fuck!" she screeched, scrambling off the couch and out of her weapon's embrace and trying to twist herself round so she could get a good look at her tail.

"Whu—" Soul said groggily, starting awake and sitting up. Then he caught sight of her and his mouth gaped open. "M-Maka—"

"I know!" she snapped. "I've got a damn tail." She glared down at the fluffy orange and white tail that looked almost...like a fox's?

"That's not all," Soul said slowly, as though he couldn't quite believe it.

Maka turned her head to look at him and was about to ask him what he meant when she saw the state her partner was in.

"Soul," she breathed. "_You've got dog ears!_"

Once they managed to wrangle out of Blair that they _only_ had ears and a tail and that the spell only lasted a few hours, the weapon-meister pair sat sulkily on the couch in silence. Maka sat ram rod straight so she didn't sit on her tail and Soul slouched more than usual to put some room between the back of the couch and his tail while still having something to lean on.

"I can't believe she did this," Maka grumbled for what must have been the thousandth time since the cat had bolted half an hour before.

Soul merely grunted.

They were silent for a moment before Maka spoke again.

"Why am I even a fox? I would've thought she'd have made a cat, what even made her think of a fox?"

She didn't expect an answer but she got one anyway.

"I guess because you're cunning?" Soul suggested. "I don't know. Foxes are cute and you're cute, so uh..." He trailed off as Maka turned her head to look at him in surprise. "What?"

"Y-you think I'm cute?" she asked in surprise, blinking at him as his cheeks flushed.

"Uh, well, yeah. I mean, besides when you're raging about something or nagging, you're pretty cute y'know—_stop giggling at me_!"

She couldn't help it though, he looked so adorable all flustered and the compliment itself was nice enough to make her giggle. She reached out a hand to ruffle his fluffy white hair and laughed when he tried to swat her hand away.

"You're pretty cute too," she said, her own cheeks pinking a bit as his darkened to match his eyes.

"Whatever," he mumbled, crossing his arms and avoiding her gaze.

Her hand returned to his hair and she stroked through it, finding the two pointy white ears that were perched atop his head.

"These are very cute as well," she said softly, gently running her hands over them. "So fluffy."

They twitched under her fingers when she first touched them, but then they held still for her. She now had Soul's complete attention, his burgundy eyes fixed on her face to watch her expression. She had the look he could only associate with seeing smiling babies or fluffy kittens or something like that. It was weird seeing her look at him like that.

"Can you move them?" she suddenly asked, meeting his gaze.

"What? Oh, uh, I don't know," he said, trying to concentrate on moving them.

To his surprise they moved easily, tilting one way then the other. Her smile brightened and his heart lurched in his chest.

"Can you move yours?" he asked, indicating her own ears with a wave of his hand.

With a smile she moved her ears much in the same ways he did his and he mirrored her grin.

"Very cute," he said and ruffled her hair.

She giggled and scratched behind his ear. He groaned suddenly and leaned forward, pressing his head up into her hand. They both froze when they realized what had happened and he jerked back and away from her.

"Did you just?"

"Ah, maybe? I don't think we should—"

She cut him off by reaching for his head again and scratching behind both ears this time, grinning as he moaned and flopped forward in bliss. The tail that poked through his pants started wagging quickly, thumping against the back of the couch rhythmically.

"Good boy," she cooed teasingly, grin widening when he only whined a little instead of moving away or teasing back. "I can see why she made you a dog. You like being stroked and you're so loyal. You're like an overgrown puppy."

He groaned in annoyance and pressed his face into her lap. "Shut up."

She stopped and he looked up sharply, whining pitifully. Just as the meaning of his actions dawned on him and his face began to glow red again, she resumed scratching and petting him, much to his satisfaction.

"Hurghhh, _don't stop_," he begged, scooting closer so that he was nearly draped over her lap.

Her cheeks warmed at his suggestive tone but she stomped down the perverted voices in her head in favour of stroking down her weapon-puppy's back, enjoying watching his tail wag happily. She laughed when he turned over suddenly to reveal his belly, hand held up in a begging position.

She rubbed his belly vigorously and giggled as he sighed and squirmed with happiness.

"Ah, see, told you, _cute_," she teased. "Your tail's wagging and everything."

"So's yours," he panted, smiling blissfully.

She looked over her back in surprise to see her bushy, foxy tail wagging from side to side much like his white, fluffy one. "Huh, didn't notice."

He whined whenever her hands stopped moving so she continued. Eventually though, her actions slowed till she was languidly running her hand down her weapon's stomach and through his hair. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Don't stop," he mumbled and yawned, settling down to take a nap.

Once he fell asleep though, she stopped, simply resting her hands on his abdomen and head. He was so cute when he slept, peaceful and almost happy. Even if the drool was gross. She leaned back against the couch and twirled some of his bangs around her fingers. She told herself she was only going to close her eyes for a moment.

However, when she opened them again, it was midday and her stomach was growling. She glanced down at her still sleeping weapon sprawled on her lap and frowned in disappointment. She touched her head and it was confirmed.

Their animal ears were gone.

And her legs had gone to sleep, which was a pain. However, she got her own back by shoving her weapon off her lap and onto the floor, taking satisfaction in his high pitched yelp as he hit the floor.


	11. Wearing Kigurumis

It was extremely silly, but that was what made it fun in Maka's opinion. As always, the latest Spartoi group sleepover had a theme. While there had been slasher nights, dinosaur nights, and animation nights, this night was a Disney night. Which had made all the guys groan loudly and dramatically about their masculinity.

They had only groaned harder when Liz had then insisted everyone come in kigurimis (or onesies as Black*Star called them to Liz's horror).

So here they all were, sprawled across Kid's living room in various kigurimis, watching classic Disney films. It was funny to see really, the variety of kigurimis that the group had found, ranging from Liz's unicorn one, to Kilik's skeleton one, to the Pikachu one Black*Star had been wrestled into when he arrived not wearing one.

Maka was quite proud of the one she had bought, based on the pink Lilo and Stitch character 'Angel', she thought she looked pretty cute. And she knew Soul did as well, judging by the way he was nearly suffocating her as he cuddled her, the cuddle bug. He himself was wearing a shark one which got a few laughs from the rest of the group, especially when he tried baring his teeth at them (Patti had even taken to singing the Jaws theme whenever he walked in the room).

"Having fun?" she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Mmm," he hummed, nuzzling his head against her. "But I kinda don't like the kugi-whatever-they-are."

"Kigurumi," she corrected softly. "Why?"

He looked down at her and smirked. "Can't really cop a good feel while you're wearing the jump suit, can I?"

The sound he made when she elbowed him was satisfying even if it did get them a couple of weird looks from the rest of the group.

Once everyone had settled back down and Soul had stopped his over-exaggerated wheezing, she leaned over and whispered, "You can cop plenty of feels when we settle down to sleep. I can't imagine she'll make us sleep in these, so I'm sure you can wait till then."

The resulting grin he wore was so lecherous she thought she would have to chop him to get him to knock it off.

"OK, I can wait," he breathed, holding her close with an arm around her shoulders.

"Good, now hush, this is my favourite part."


	12. Making Oout

**This is mildly NSFW, so I guess this would be M rated, except not really. Enjoy anyway.**

* * *

It was a lazy day in the Albarn-Evans household, a day spent dozing on Soul's bed while his playlist of soft jazz played on repeat quietly, occasionally getting up for snack or bathroom trips.

They were cuddled up close together, legs tangled and arms secure around each other. He was in a faded band t-shirt and boxers while she was in one of his old sweatshirts and a pair of flannel shorts. Maka thought it might have been mid-afternoon but it was hard to tell when she was too lazy to pick her up off the pillow to look over her partner's head at his alarm clock.

"We should've built a blanket fort," she murmured softly, staring into his half-lidded eyes. "It would've been fun to sleep in."

He hummed and shifted slightly. "We can make one now, if you want."

She shook her head. "Nah, too comfortable to move."

"Heh, too lazy, more like," he teased, smiling slightly and tilting his head forward so their foreheads pressed together.

She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes, enjoying his close proximity. "You're the lazy one."

He laughed at that.

They fell back into silence for a while and Maka was on the precipice of sleep when Soul spoke up.

"Hey," he whispered. "Can I kiss you?"

She cracked her eyes open and smiled. "Of course, you don't need to ask."

The bed sheets rustled a little as he moved forward to press his lips to hers. "But I like asking. Means 'm sure 'm not annoying you or anything. And I wasn't sure if you were sleeping or not."

She scoffed softly and shook her slightly. "Your kisses don't annoy me, you leaving your dirty boxers on the bathroom floor annoys me." To prove it, she returned the kiss, pressing their lips together for a fraction of a moment longer than he had.

They traded the kiss back and forth for a while, holding it longer and longer each time until eventually they didn't pull away, merely pressing closer so their entire bodies were flush against each other, eyes sliding shut. Her hand ran through his thick, fluffy hair and his travelled underneath the sweatshirt she was wearing to press against the small of his back.

"Love you," he breathed as her lips slanted more firmly against his.

She hummed and tried to pull him closer still, hooking one of her legs over his hip. He sighed when her tongue probed his sealed lips and opened his mouth to her as the hand that had been pressed to her back trailed down her body. He squeezed her butt gently before settling his hand on her thigh, hitching it up a little higher.

Slowly they began to turn so that she was lying under him as their tongues tangled. She made a noise between a moan and sigh of contentment at the feeling of his weight over her. He was warm and solid and gentle, everything she loved him for and more.

Reluctantly he pulled away from the kiss, making sure to keep his forehead pressed to hers so she knew he wasn't trying to move away.

"Can we move your leg please?" he asked, squeezing the leg between his with his thighs.

"Ah, yeah," she said breathlessly, allowing him to pull away so she could move it without fear of knocking him in places that would hurt the most.

Once both legs were settled on the outside of his hips he lay back over her, re-sealing their lips. He stroked a hand through her hair and cupped her cheek as her hands rubbed up and down his back.

"Love you too," she finally whispered back and he grinned.

"Love you the most, especially in my clothes," he murmured, slowly trailing kisses from her lips, down her jaw to her neck, keeping it chaste and sweet.

The sound of each kiss was loud in the quiet; _that,_ paired with the feeling of his soft lips brushing her skin, set her heart pounding and heat settling in her abdomen. She inhaled sharply when he kissed behind her ear, the exhale from his nose brushing right into it. He seemed content to keep kissing her neck softly but she missed his lips on hers already so she cupped his jaw and pulled his mouth back to hers.

He moaned as their tongues stroked each other slowly. She could feel his hardness against her abdomen but neither moved to do anything about it. Their shared warmth was good enough for now.

This type of kissing was her favourite. Though she liked the frantic, sexual heat that came with couch make-outs, there was just something undeniably pleasurable about slow, unhurried lazy-day make-outs. It reaffirmed their bond in the best way, they always kept a low resonance going between them when they did this. Not strong enough to read each other's thoughts, but just enough to feel each other's souls thrumming in harmony.

Soul's hips rocked slightly into hers and their lips detached slowly, eyes cracking open to meet.

"We could do a thing, if you want," he whispered, rocking his hips again.

"If you want to," she said softly, brushing some of his bangs back.

"I don't really mind whichever," he added, reading her expression as fluently as he always did.

She smiled and kissed his nose, grinning when he went a little cross-eyed. "I'd just like to keep doing this."

"Then let's keep doing this."

He recaptured her lips though he didn't try to deepen the kiss until she started stroking the side of his neck with her thumb.

They whiled away the rest of the afternoon like that, kissing slowly and passionately until they were hungry enough for dinner, when they simply ordered pizza and moved their cuddling to the couch. Later that night they fell asleep there, tangled up together under a couple of blankets, the definition of content.

The next morning they would have feverous sex multiple times in various places around the apartment as the previous day's sexual tension caught up, but for now they were both happy to simply hold each other, quietly aroused but more comfortable than anything. This was all they needed and all they wanted.


	13. Eating Ice Cream

Soul watched in horror as Maka ate her whippy, vanilla ice cream in a cone under the shade of their beach umbrella.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked finally, once she had gotten tired of him staring at her.

"H-how?" was all he could say.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him incredulously. "How what?"

"_How are you just_ _biting into it_!?" he exclaimed. "Are you even human?"

She blinked at the weapon and then glanced down at the ice cream she had been taking chunks out of. She looked back up at him and said, "...You don't like how I eat my ice cream?"

"Yes!" he said in exasperation. "It isn't _human_. You're supposed to lick it, not _bite into it_!"

"You sound more horrified by me eating ice cream like this than you were when you found out I liked trance fusion," she said dryly. "Which is _perfectly fine to enjoy_ before you say anything, music snob," she added.

He grimaced and shook his head, unable to take his eyes off her as she took another large bite of her frozen treat. "The music is just because of bad taste, _this_ is because you are a devil, I swear to god."

She snorted. "You're ridiculous. My mama ate like this as well and so does Black*Star, actually. Why don't you go bother him about it?" She gestured to where the ninja was playing volleyball with Tsubaki, Killik and Patti a little way off.

Soul ignored her question and just said, "You're just a monster, that's what you are. Is it a meister thing or is it just crazy people?"

"Shut up and eat your chocolate monstrosity, I wanna go swimming and I know you can't be trusted to keep putting on sun screen," she commanded, pouting as he continued to grumble. "Death, you sound like Papa warning me about brain-freeze."

He choked and spluttered for a moment before hissing, "Shut up. _Heathen_."

"Says the devil with red eyes and fangs."

"At least I'm not a tiny-tits with fat ankles."

"At least I don't look like an old man."

"At least I'm not a bookworm."

"At least I'm not an uncool jerk!"

"At least I'm not a nerd with no sex appeal!"

"At least I'm not a whiny tool!"

Soul blinked for a moment. "That was actually a good one."

"Thanks, I was saving it," Maka deadpanned.

After a beat of silence they burst out laughing, shaking their heads at each other.

"Whatever, let's just finish eating and get in the water, I wanna see how far I can go before my feet stop touching the ground," she eventually said once her giggles had subsided.

"OK, OK, hold on, I'm nearly done. Then we can go do whatever crazy thing you wanna do," he sighed.

She beamed at him after she finished chewing on the last of her cone. "Thanks sharky, love you!"

She giggled when he flushed slightly. "Yeah, yeah, love you too, or whatever."


	14. Genderswapped

Maka was not used to being under such intense scrutiny from anyone aside from his Mama (and the thought of the red-haired woman made him grimace), so it was weird to find his weapon looking at his face so intently.

"What are you doing?" he asked, wrapping his arms around his weapon's hips to keep her close as she sat in his lap.

"'m looking at the scars on your face," Soul murmured. "You've got a lot."

He smiled and tightened his arms around her. "I've got more on my arms and legs, that's where I get hit the most. Also probably on my ribs." He regretted the next words that came out of his mouth even as he said them. "But none of them compare to yours."

They both tensed for a moment before Soul sighed and clapped her hands against his cheeks as she cupped them.

"You're stupid," she said simply as she stared fiercely into his eyes. "I told you, don't feel—"

"—guilty, I know. It's just, well, hard, y'know? You're my everything and I hate that you got hurt for me," he said despondently.

Her brows knitted together and a frown tugged at her lips. "Maka, it was _years_ ago now, I thought you were over it."

"I was," he assured her. He scowled and corrected himself, "I _am_. I don't freak out over it anymore and I guess I see it more as a sign of how strong our partnership is. But still..." He trailed off and lifted a hand to her shoulder where a scar was just beginning to form from their latest mission.

She sighed harshly and used her hands to shake his head and bring his focus back to her red eyes. "It's part of the job _remember_. It's like you didn't even listen when your pervy mom gave us that speech about how everything's gonna be more dangerous now that I'm a deathscythe. And, y'know, I never pegged you for the type of guy who would try to wrap his girl up in bubble wrap."

He scoffed and tweaked her nose, smiling wryly when she squawked and swatted his hand away. "I'm not trying to 'wrap you in bubble-wrap' or whatever, and I know you're a deathscythe now and that you can handle yourself but it's just..." He cupped her cheek tenderly and tipped both their heads forward so their foreheads pressed together. "I love you more than anything and I hate seeing you hurt, especially when I could've done something to stop it."

"You're so uncool," she murmured. "Worrying about shit like that. The weapon protects the meister, remember? I know you wouldn't let anything happen to me on purpose but sometimes things go out of our control and stuff happens. Doesn't mean you're a bad meister or boyfriend, _which you aren't_." She glared fiercely at him when he opened his mouth to object. "No, shut up, we aren't going to argue over this. You're a great boyfriend and meister and that's final!"

He started chuckling and her glare melted into a grin. She started pressing loud kisses all over his face as he laughed, giggling a little herself.

"OK, OK," he finally said, hugging her tightly to his chest. "I'll try to stop being so 'uncool'."

"Good," she huffed, giving him one final peck on the lips. "Now, let's watch the horror movie Star gave us. Apparently she got it when she was in Japan with Tsu and it's _really_ scary."

"I don't know why you want to watch horror movies," Maka sighed, letting go of Soul so she could go put the disk in. "You spend the whole time hiding in a cushion and miss the whole thing."

She just grinned and jumped back into his lap once the DVD player was set up. "I wanna see what scares you," she teased. "Could give me black mail material."

He scoffed and tugged on her hair gently. "Cruel," he said, smiling slightly. "And I thought you loved me."

"Sorry to disappoint," she laughed. "Now, shut up and make like a pillow, I wanna be able to hide when it gets scary."


	15. In A Different Clothing Style

**A/N: Warning, character death. Featuring my SoMa children OCs, who you can find out about on my tumblr, following the link from my profile. You should probably go read about them before reading this otherwise it might not make much sense.**

* * *

Maka hated wearing this dress. Not only because it was a bitch to zip up but also because of what it represented.

Normally she would have twisted and turned until she could get the zip up herself, but today she just _couldn't_. She was finding it hard to do a lot of normal things recently.

"Soul?" she called. "Could you help me please?"

Her husband opened the door to their bedroom and walked up behind her silently. Gently, slowly, he grabbed the tiny zip for her dress and pulled it up. Had the dress been any other colour, had this been for anything, _anything_ else he would have pressed a teasing kiss to the back of her neck, ran his hands over her shoulders and down her arms, clasped her hands and spun her round so he could kiss her properly.

She couldn't even remember the last time they had kissed. She wanted to, she wanted to take comfort from her husband, her weapon, her soul-mate, but it felt so wrong at the same time.

She spun slowly to face him, but didn't look into his face. Instead she smoothed over his shoulders, straightening the lapels of his black blazer, the collar of his black shirt and then straightening his tie. She held onto his tie for a moment in silence, trying not to focus on the hot pink colour of it, trying to ignore the subtle butterfly wing pattern.

His voice was hoarse and urgent as he said, "Maka," dragging her gaze from his collar to his eyes.

He pulled her hands from his tie and cupped them in his own, pressing a little kiss to the knuckles of her right hand and she could feel his lips tremble a little.

"Maka," he said again, just as urgently, letting go of her hands to cup her cheeks and stroke through her hair, ash-blonde now streaked with grey.

His eyes were glossy with unshed tears and her own pricked with them. Suddenly he had his arms wrapped tightly around her, holding her close to his chest. She was suddenly taken back to the night they had been told their earth-shattering news, and how, as soon as they had returned home after making sure Luke and Charlie got home safe, he had practically collapsed into her arms, frame shuddering and shaking with his sobs, how they had both wailed together in the living room.

He was trembling now, shuddering as he tried to take deep breaths.

"Soul," she said and her voice cracked, breath catching in her throat.

His arms tightened around her for a moment and then he released her, taking a step back and rubbing his eyes, wiping the moisture off his cheeks. She walked briskly to their chest of drawers and pulled out a handkerchief, then walked back to him and held it out for him to take. He sniffled and tried for a tiny wobbly smile as he took it, blowing his nose before folding it and stuffing it in his pocket.

He cleared his throat and held out his hand. "We should go," he said. "The others will be waiting."

She clasped his hand tightly, intertwining their fingers as she picked up her handbag and nodded.

The house was eerily quiet as they made their way downstairs, shoes clacking too loudly on the hardwood stairs. Just four months ago the house had been full of the noise of high schoolers on summer vacation. And now it was empty and no matter how many summer vacations came and went, it would never be as full or as happy again.

The car ride to the funeral home was silent, they only stopped once to pick up Luke and his weapon, Maria; Charlie was old enough to drive herself and Blue*Star was getting himself there, on his own insistence.

When they got there they found Charlie and Lexi had already arrived, Charlie's green eyes looking bloodshot as she held Lexi's hand tightly. As soon as they walked through the door to the funeral home, Charlie ran over, wrapping her arms tight around both her parents and then her brother and his weapon.

"Blue*Star's not here yet," she said softly. "He's not answering his phone either."

"He's just taking his time," Maka assured her eldest. She took breath and added, "This is just as difficult for him as it is for us."

Charlie nodded and sniffed. "Yeah. I know."

Maka heard the door open and close behind her, and then turned to find Blue*Star jerking to a stop as he caught sight of them, as though he had be jolted out of his thoughts by their presence.

His black hair, coloured like his mother's but as wild as his father's, was slicked back and he had deep shadows under his eyes. He wore a suit, pressed and clean, though the tie was a deep blue instead of black.

"O-oh," he stammered, looking at them all in turn. "I'm not late, am I?"

"No sweetheart," Maka said gently, coming up to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. "You're just on time."

Blue*Star nodded and swallowed thickly. "Good."

Maka steered him forward with a hand on his back as a director came out and told them the car was ready for them.

As they walked out of a side door to a limo that would take them all to the Church and cemetery, Luke held back to walk beside her and Blue*Star.

"I like your tie," her son murmured.

"Yeah," Blue*Star breathed. "She, ah, she liked it. Said it—" he stopped to take a deep breath and blink his eyes rapidly. "She said it brought out my eyes."

Luke nodded. "It does."

Maka tried not to look at the hearse as they climbed into the limo but she couldn't help it. The coffin looked too small, but then she _had_ always been short for her age. She had always joked about being a late bloomer but now they would never know if she would get that last growth spurt.

The car ride to the cemetery and most of the ceremony was a blur. The service was nice, Kid spoke beautifully, as he always did though Maka paid more attention to the sound of his voice than the words he was saying. The weather was clear, sunny, and all she could think about was that her daughter would have loved that type of day, it was perfect for family picnics in the garden or at the park.

She found her hand clutching her husband's tightly throughout the ceremony and he clutched hers just as hard. Even though she knew that the idea that couples were more likely to split after the death of a child was a myth, she was still incredibly grateful that she could still feel her partner's soul nestled against hers, even if it was to desperately seek comfort.

There were a lot of people in attendance, which Maka knew would've made her daughter happy. All of her class showed up, as did some of the teachers. Maka's father was there, naturally, as were Soul's parents and brother. Even her mother had managed to make it, despite the fact it was on such short notice.

While she had been able to block out Kid's words, Maka wasn't able to do so during the eulogies.

First was Charlie, standing by her little sister's coffin as she read out a wonderful speech about her first memories of her sister, how they had practiced shifting into their weapon forms together. Soul's hand clenched around hers even tighter, so much that it nearly hurt but she didn't say anything. She could practically hear his thoughts, feel his guilt about emphasising the need for weapons to protect their meisters too much.

Maka had to clamp down hard on her lip to stop herself from sobbing when Charlie's voice broke on the last sentence and tears began to roll down her cheeks. Soul held his arm out for his oldest daughter to hide under when she came back and Maka saw Lexi move to stand beside her meister and take the crying girl's hand.

Soul had planned to talk next but he gave Kid a little shake of the head before he could be called forward. Thankfully Kid understood, could see that the Last Deathscythe was barely holding himself together. Instead, he called Blue*Star forward to speak.

The young meister walked up to the coffin slowly but not hesitantly. He stood tall, even as Maka could see the rose in his hands tremble as his hands shook. He stood there in silence for a few moments, taking deep breaths and blinking rapidly. Maka could feel Tsubaki and Black*Star standing behind them with her soul perception, could feel how much they both ached to take their son in their arms and comfort him.

"Gabby," Blue*Star finally began with a shaky exhale. "Gabby was the best weapon, and the best friend, I could have ever asked for." He laughed then, a little bitterly. "Even if I never had the courage to tell her that. Or tell her how much she meant to me, how much I..." He trailed off and took a few more deep breaths.

He went on to say more about her, stopping every so often to breathe and blink back tears, talking about how loyal and kind she was, how brave she was even when she found out about her madness. By the time he finished, Maka had silent tears rolling down her face and her arm wrapped around Luke as he pressed his face into her shoulder to try and muffle his sobs.

Blue*Star took one last deep breath, then put the rose he had been holding on top of the coffin, slipping it in between the all the flowers that had already been placed there. Then he walked back down and stood next to Maria, who stood next to Luke and was rubbing her meisters back as he cried.

Maka wanted to reach over to try and squeeze his shoulder to offer some comfort, though it wouldn't be much comfort, but she saw him flinch away from his mother, who had come forward to comfort him, and thought better of it.

The ceremony finished and the coffin was lowered slowly into the ground. Maka forced herself to watch, blinking through the tears as her daughter, her little princess, was laid to rest.

Death, she had only been fifteen, and had died in such a horrific way. Glancing over at Blue*Star who was being stiffly hugged by his parents, she couldn't even imagine what it had been like for him to watch. All she had seen was the aftermath and the image was permanently seared into her brain.

Even through the grief, through the guilt, through the unbearable pain she couldn't imagine would ever go away, Maka could sense the young boy's determination. She knew he would never take another weapon. There would be no one like Gabby for him.

And, even though it was selfish of her, she was glad he felt like that. Gabby would've hated it, hated him for throwing his potential as a meister away for her, but Maka was happy her daughter wouldn't be replaced in the young meister's heart.

God knew, she'd never be replaced in hers.


	16. During Their Morning Ritual

Having been married to a morning person for eleven years (and having lived with her for even longer) and then having three children conditioned Soul into getting up early. Even though he still hated it just as much as he had when he was a teenager (though, being woken up early by two wriggling children on Christmas morning giggling about presents was pretty adorable).

When Lottie (or Charlie as she now insisted on being called) had been born he had been happy enough to wake up early to deal with her, provided he had had a decent night's sleep, because he loved his daughter and wanted to spend time with her. And to also give his wife some much needed sleep.

When Gabby had been born, the joy of waking up to be with his child (now, _children_) had long since worn off, though it was still pretty nice to have his baby and toddler smile widely and gurgle or cheer "Daddy!" when they saw him.

By the time Luke had been born, the school run had started for both his daughters and now, _on top_ of getting ready for work and feeding three children, he had to make sure two were dressed and properly prepared for their day in education.

This involved his second daughter running into their bedroom shrieking about how excited she was for nursery, acting as a pretty good alarm clock for her parents, though Luke would somehow manage to continue to sleep through it. Then Lottie would arrive to drag her sister away for breakfast, allowing Maka to shower and dress while Soul slept for five more minutes.

Once his wife was out of the shower, he would shower and dress too, somewhat more awake thanks to the effects of scalding hot water. Then down to the kitchen he would go, bleary baby in his arms who would then be handed off to Maka in exchange for his large mug of coffee (which he would then gratefully chug before scolding his eldest about chewing with her mouth open).

Lunches were always packed the night before and would be sitting on the side. Once the girls had eaten their cereal and put their bowls in the sink, they would be herded back upstairs to be washed and dressed. Thankfully, Lottie had reached the point where she could dress herself in her school uniform while Gabby still needed a little bit of help with the buttons of her nursery blouse.

Then back down stairs to pick up their lunches and schoolbags, or whatever toy was being brought in for show and tell; then all, sans Maka and Luke depending on what day of the week it was, would climb into the family car.

First Lottie was dropped off at her elementary school, then Gabby at her nursery and then finally Soul would pull up at the academy to spend a full day of paperwork and standing around doing nothing.

Yes, he still hated mornings, and yes, it could be stressful trying to two excited little girls on his own while Maka dealt with their son, and _yes,_ he probably never got enough sleep anymore (what with paperwork and housework and monetary issues). But, he wouldn't change it, because this hectic and chaotic morning routine meant he had a family full of love and he couldn't think of anything in the world that would've made him happier.

Except perhaps a second honeymoon. But he could probably live without that for a couple more years. Probably.


	17. Spooning

To be honest, he hadn't expected to wake up the morning after his wedding feeling so..._normal_.

Soul had, like the uncool closet-romantic he was, imagined he would feel different, feel more grounded now that he was legally bound to the woman he loved most in the world. He had expected the whole world to be brighter, the colours to stand out more, had almost expected his whole being to feel lighter because he was so happy.

And don't get him wrong, he was unimaginably happy to be married to his meister, his partner, his Maka, but he still felt like him on any other day. Though perhaps he was a little more jetlagged and a little more hung over than normal from all the expensive champagne he had had.

It seemed Maka was feeling the same—hung over that was—given that she hadn't gotten up yet to unpack and have a look around the small apartment they had rented for the two weeks they would be staying. In _Australia,_ of all places to go for their honeymoon. Instead, she was still curled up, back against his front as he spooned behind her.

Due to exhaustion and jetlag they hadn't actually gotten around to consummating their marriage (which they technically didn't need to given all the premarital sex they had enjoyed for years) and instead they had just collapsed onto the bed, undressing just enough to be comfortable before falling straight off to sleep.

But now they had time, lots and lots of time, _and energy_ to make up for that. However, he was perfectly comfortable to just hold her for a little while longer as sleep called him back down under (heh), ignoring the sunlight that was beginning to come through the crack in the curtains.

"Love you," he murmured just before dropping back off, tightening his arm around her waist and pulling her more securely against him.

Maka merely sighed and shifted slightly, not even waking.


	18. Doing Something Together

**A/N: This is smut, rated M, very NSFW. If you don't like this, then I wonder why you clicked on a story rated M in the first place, but, well, just ignore this chapter.**

* * *

"Y'know," Soul panted, leaning back into his swivel chair and gripping his girlfriend's hips tightly as she ground against him. "When I said we should do something together this weekend, I didn't really mean for you to sneak into my house and try to _seduce me—__**ah, shit**_."

She hushed him and grinned, holding onto the back of his chair with one hand and tangling the other in his soft white hair. "Don't lie," she whispered, slightly breathless. "You love it really."

"I'd love it a lot more if you—_nggh—_did this when my family _wasn't_ home," he growled slightly before he grabbed her by the back of her neck and smashed their lips together.

Maka sighed and pressed the whole of her torso flush against his, still undulating in his lap as his hands moved from her hips to her ass under her skirt to guide her. His lips parted for her and her tongue pushed its way in to toy with his. He moaned softly as she began to move quicker and harder against him.

"I missed you," she breathed into his mouth, tongue then doing that stroking thing that made his toes curl.

He hummed. "I missed you too, I hate those stupid family reunions. So uncool."

She pulled back and snickered at little, grinning slightly when he grumbled.

"Aww, poor little baby boo," she teased in a whisper. "Let me make it better."

And with that she attached her lips to neck and sucked, hard. His breath hitched and he clutched at her desperately, trying to thrust up against but finding it difficult.

"Fuck," he hissed. "Floor, _now_."

She detached with a small pop and looked at him in confusion. "What?"

He sighed harshly and began to slide off the chair, keeping her pressed against him as he lowered them both to floor, ignoring the complaining of his leg muscles, _damn_ she was heavy.

"Floor," he repeated, pushing her down onto her back as he hovered over her. "That was the goal, right?"

"Not the bed?" she asked, tugging on his pyjama top to pull him onto of her.

He shook his head before burying his face in her neck. "Squeaks too loud. And the headboard's a bitch, remember? That's how Wes found out. I don't really want my parents to find out about us like that."

"O-oh?" she stammered as he nibbled on her skin and ran her hands under his t-shirt and over his abdomen.

He hummed again and moved to the other side of her neck to leave some more hickeys, moving the hem of her top out of the way so he could get at her skin. "I'd rather they meet you when I didn't have my dick in you."

She snorted and tugged on his hair to pull him away from her collarbones. "Such a romantic," she teased as she wound her legs around his waist. "Is that how you treat all the girls?"

He scoffed and kissed her deeply, pressing his hardness down against her as he started to trail his hands over her torso. "Mmm, only the really cool ones."

"Oh, so I'm cool now?" she breathed. "I thought I was a nerdy little tiny-tits."

He sighed and kissed her again. "Haven't called you that in years," he mumbled, sitting up enough to pull his shirt over his head. "'cause, y'know, I like your tits. Now, shut up and let me kiss you."

She snickered a little more and pulled her shirt off before giving her mouth up to him. He hadn't been lying when he said he loved her tits, he palmed them enthusiastically over her bra as he kissed her hard. Quickly growing annoyed with her bra, he shoved it up so her breasts were exposed.

Leaving her mouth, he quickly trailed kisses down her neck and collar bone, down until he had a nipple in his mouth and began to suck on it, while his other hand began to grope the other tit.

She sighed and squirmed under him, pressing her thighs against his waist to almost try and push his boxers down.

"Soul," she whined quietly. "Please."

He grunted when she pulled on his hair, harder than usual, but discarded her nipple anyway in favour of her mouth, though only for a moment before sitting up to kneel. He grinned down at her, raking his eyes over her flushed and dishevelled body.

"I love seeing you like this," he said softly as he shimmied his boxers down his hips and off.

As he did so, she arched her back to undo her bra, slipping it off her slim arms and throwing it somewhere to the side. "Yeah?" she breathed, reaching for him as he leaned back over her.

He hummed and kissed her again. "Yeah. Though I hate that we have to be quiet now."

She smiled and shook her head fondly. "It's only for the next year, then we're on our own in college."

"Mmm, yeah, can't come soon enough."

She chuckled a little at that, but as he kissed her, the chuckle turned into a moan. He hiked up her skirt and cupped her core, moaning into the kiss as he felt her bare sex.

"Fuck, love it when you go commando," he growled and began to grind himself against her.

"Me too," she gasped. "That's why I do it."

They kept that up for a little while before he finally asked, "Are we still safe?"

"Yeah," she said, breath hitching a little as the head of his cock rubbed against her clit.

"Great. Can I?" he grunted.

She hummed desperately, pulling his mouth back down to hers as he took his dick in his hand to guide himself in. They shared a slight hiss as he entered, slowly and carefully. Neither moved for a few moments, simply reacquainting themselves with the feeling of fitting together.

Finally he began to move, burying his face in her neck as he pulled out slowly before pushing back in, sighing at the feeling. Maka dug her nails into his shoulders as he continued to move, gradually picking up speed.

Soon enough he was thrusting into her vigorously, panting into her ear as he rocketed towards his finish. Her hold on him tightened and she dug her teeth into her bottom lip to keep quiet.

"I love you," he breathed and pressed his lips to her neck. "_Nggh_, fuck, Maka."

She made a tiny squeaking sound and said, "I-I love you too, Soul—a_h_, **Soul**."

With that she started shaking as she came, shuddering and tangling a hand tightly in his hair when he continued to move, desperate to finish as well.

"Soul," she murmured contentedly and that was all it took for him to stiffen and grunt, coming inside her hard.

They lay there for a while, panting and weary. Eventually he pulled away and tugged her up so she was standing. They grinned at each other tiredly and he cupped her cheeks so he could kiss her.

"I'd offer my bed for the night, but, uh, I don't know if my parents will come in to wake me up early for something," he whispered against her lips.

She nodded and smiled, patting his cheek gently. "I know, it's OK."

However, instead of moving anywhere, they stood there kissing for a while, until they were both yawning so much they could barely keep kissing.

"OK, I really should go," she said and pulled away, starting to pick her clothes up off the floor.

He sighed and helped, pulling his boxers on but leaving his shirt on the floor. Once she was dressed again, she gave him one last kiss before going to the window she had entered through.

"Hey, wait," he said, holding onto her arm before she could leave. She raised an eyebrow at him but stayed put anyway. "Come round for dinner on Sunday, we never do anything then. I think it's time my folks met you."

A smile spread across her face and she briefly leaned towards him so she could kiss him again.

"OK, I'll be there. Should I bring Papa with me?"

Soul grimaced slightly. "_No_. I'll text you tomor—uh, later."

She grinned again and gave one last wave before she was out the window and into the dark of the night. He crawled into bed and sighed.

Damn, he loved that girl.


	19. In Formal Wear

Maka grinned as she walked down the Church aisle after Liz and Patti. She caught the best man's eye as he looked over his shoulder, he gave her an appreciative once over before leaning over to Black*Star to whisper something. Black*Star gave him a hard look but didn't look around, though he didn't seem as stiff anymore.

She felt a bit smug as the best man looked over his shoulder at her again, white hair untamed and eyes slightly hooded, giving her a lazy grin. She'd been eyeing the best man, probably more than she should've, since the rehearsal dinner. A college friend of Star's she'd been told, though she'd never met him before given that her and Star had gone to different colleges.

While she probably shouldn't have been using her best friend's wedding as an opportunity to find a new boyfriend, she had to admit that, while she didn't particularly believe in it, fate might have been on her side. Weren't the maid of honour and best man _supposed_ to get together or whatever?

At the rehearsal dinner he had piqued her interest. He'd been quiet, though clearly not shy as he had met everyone's eyes unflinchingly when they spoke to him. And really, he'd only been quiet right at the beginning, once he'd had a glass of champagne and started talking to Killik, another one of the groomsmen, he'd opened up and begun to talk freely to the rest of the wedding party.

It was then that she had been introduced to Soul Evans, music producer and piano prodigy (though he'd strongly argued against the title 'prodigy' that Tsubaki had given him, claiming he wasn't actually _that_ good). It was then that Maka also learned that he was a rather big music snob, he'd accused her of having bad taste when she told him she was into electronic.

But aside from that, he'd actually been very nice. When Black*Star had had a little _too_ much to drink and started bringing out old nicknames, like 'pigtails' or 'tiny-tits', he'd come to her defence and turned Star's attention elsewhere. Even when it came for them to practice their dance, despite the fact that he was very clearly against the whole idea he hadn't been too mad at her about stepping on his toes.

So, by the end of the dinner she'd become quite enthralled with Soul Evans and wished to know more about him. However, she hadn't been able to ask Tsubaki or Black*Star about him, those two could smell attraction a mile away and would have teased her relentlessly for it. So she had had to settle with a simple Google search of his name (which hadn't turned up much aside from his sparse Wikipedia page and couple of pictures of when he was younger and his parents has been famous enough to suffer the paparazzi, and then simply wait until the actual wedding.

And, from what she had gathered by just walking down the aisle was that the attraction went both ways (and that _damn_ his shoulders looked good in a suit, as did that ass). Unfortunately, as she came up to the altar, she now had to stand next to four other, far more gorgeous women, though, thankfully, two of them were gay.

While Maka knew she wasn't exactly ugly, or even really plain, she knew she wasn't a bombshell like Liz and Patti were. But she kept up her grin as she took her place beside her friends and looked back down the aisle as the bridal march started.

However, she needn't have worried. Soul was barely able to keep his eyes off her for the rest of the ceremony. Truthfully, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since the rehearsal dinner, when he had been captivated by her big green eyes and musical laugh (even if her tastes were appalling).

So, as the bridal march started, he leaned over his friend and said, "Forget the bribe, I'll dance with the maid of honour for free."

Star grinned at him as they both turned to face the entrance. "Good, Baki'll be happy." Then he gave Soul a look that promised future discussion about his sudden change of heart before turning his full attention to his bride walking down the aisle.

As Tsubaki approached the altar on the arm of her father, Soul looked over at the ash-blonde maid of honour again. Maka. It was a beautiful name and it matched her perfectly.

It was silly, but as the priest began the service, Soul briefly wondered if maybe him and Maka would be in this Church again in the future, though instead of supporting they would be the main stars of the show.

And as it turned out, three and a bit years later, they were.


	20. Dancing

He hates it, but he'll do it for her.

It's not like he thinks dancing is bad or anything, it's just that it stirs up memories he'd rather forget, lest the demon sink his filthy claws into them and use them against him when he least expects it.

As the tiny red imp places the needle on the record he's reminded of the dancing instructor his mother hired, how he used to place the needle and then clap his hands, telling everyone to get into position.

Then as he pulls Maka into the centre of the Black Room and takes her hand in his, he's reminded of the girl he was always partnered with. How she would always look at him sourly, then blush whenever she looked over at his brother, sitting on the side waiting for his own lesson.

But Maka never looks anywhere else, apart from her feet sometimes, but that's because she doesn't want to step on his toes. She's always happy when he dances with her, probably because he never does it out there in reality.

_Beggars can't be choosers _she thinks to him and he'd forgotten they could read each other's minds when they resonate this close. It's nice though, he enjoys it, feeling her so close to him that is.

He can't feel her like this out in reality. Despite the fact that she can feel how much he adores her, despite the fact that he can feel how much she loves him when they're like this, they don't act on it.

He'll just spin her round slowly, tugging her close to him with every second that passes as he stamps down on any unwanted memories. He hates dancing, but he'll do it for her, only her. He'll do it to make her happy, so they can win against whatever monster they're fighting today, so they can get home as soon as possible and return to their normal version of dancing.

One that involves spinning around mutual attraction and affection, and hiding behind fears of commitment, fears of abandonment until they're ready to come together.

Yes, he hates dancing, but he'll do it for her and he'll do it with a smile.


	21. Cooking or Baking

Soul flinched as he heard the knife hit the cutting board as it sliced through whatever vegetable his meister was cutting up. It was technically his turn to cook (though it was uncool that he was thinking about that) but he wouldn't have been able to make anything, given that he wouldn't have been able to see what he was doing.

He wasn't really seeing anything lately.

Fuck that witch right to hell.

The sound of the knife stopped and he tensed.

"Soul?" Maka asked softly. "What's wrong? I can hear your soul from here you know."

He scoffed quietly and muttered, "What _isn't_ wrong?"

Unfortunately he hadn't been quiet enough as Maka came closer, slippers slapping on the floor. He knew she had been trying to accommodate for his lack of sight by making sure she was extra noisy when she approached him, she learned not to sneak up on him the first three times she made him jump and he'd nearly sliced her.

She stopped right beside where he sitting on the couch and let her hand hove over his shoulder for a moment, letting him know she was there before she let her hand fall. She gave his shoulder a little squeeze and let her soul brush against his.

"Stein said it'll probably wear off in a couple of weeks," she said and sent out soothing feelings from her soul.

He took a shuddering breath and turned his head up so that he would've been looking at her if he'd been able to see anything at all. "I know, I just don't like feeling so..._useless_ in the mean time."

She let go of his shoulder and walked around him so she could sit next to him on the couch. Her hand curled around his that had been fisted on his thigh and she began to pull at his fingers till the fist fell open.

"You're not useless," she told him and brought his palm up to her lips so she could press a small kiss there.

He gulped and said, "I can't see."

"Neither can lots of people, doesn't mean _they're_ useless," she murmured. She held his hand up so it cupped her cheek. "It's just a couple of weeks, we can get through it."

He took another shuddery breath. "And if it doesn't wear off...?"

"Then we adapt," she said simply. "It'll be OK, we'll work it out together."

He smiled slightly and stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb. What he wouldn't have given to look into her eyes in that moment, to see the way she looked at him to match her voice.

"Thanks," he whispered. He cleared his throat and grinned. "Sorry, 'm being uncool."

He could feel her relief through their bond as she shook her head, keeping his hand pressed to her cheek. "It's OK, I get it."

Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his gently and he kissed back, cupping her other cheek to keep their faces close together. They stayed like that for a few moments before she finally pulled back slightly.

He could hear the smile in her voice as she chuckled and said, "I should probably finish dinner."

"Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea," he teased and laughed when her face shifted under his hands into a pout. He guessed he knew her face better than he thought he did.

"OK, OK. I'll turn the radio on so you aren't so bored, OK?"

He mourned her loss momentarily as she pulled away from him but settled back down when she pressed a kiss to his forehead on her way back into the kitchen after turning the radio on to the jazz channel he liked.

"Dinner'll be ready in twenty minutes!" Maka called as she resumed cutting up the vegetables.

This time he didn't flinch.


	22. In Battle, Side By Side

Maka would've liked to have said that she remembered her first fight with Soul against a pre-kishin with fondness. Soul would've liked to have said that he remembered it with mixed feelings of dread and terror. But then Maka would've smacked him and he would've amended it to some dread but mostly satisfaction and then dodged her next blow.

Maka, being the over-achiever that she was, had taken their first mission as soon as she could after figuring out how to wield her brand-spanking new scythe. Soul had been hesitant but, at that point, unwilling to go against his meister given they had only been partnered about seven months and living together for only four of them.

Their mission took them to eastern Canada, to a sleepy little town that had been dealing with a pre-k that wasn't all that powerful, but had the potential to go _real_ bad if it wasn't taken care of.

Maka would've said she still remembered the feeling of elation as they got off the train that took them there. Soul would've said he still remembered how nauseous with nerves he had felt.

It hadn't taken them long to find the thing, as soon as night has fallen it had come out, using a comically over-sized nose to sniff them out. Maka had faced it, weapon in hand and called out to it, telling it she was going to take its soul (she'd been working on a catchphrase for weeks before taking the mission, he'd heard her mumbling in her room).

The pre-k had regarded them for a moment, held tilted like a dog's before it lunged at them. Soul had barely enough time to spew a line of expletives before Maka met the pre-k's claws with the shaft of his scythe, blocking well, if a little sloppily.

The next five minutes had been the most anxious of Soul's young life up until that point. Maka had been quick, graceful, Soul could've almost forgotten that seven months ago she hadn't even known how to hold him. But then she'd miscalculated and the pre-k had taken a swipe at her arm, leaving her with a nice gash.

She'd yelped and jumped back, bracing his pole on the ground as she clutched at her bleeding arm.

"Maka! Are you OK?" he'd asked, trying to mask his trembling.

"Yeah," she'd said, straightening her back and keeping her eyes locked on the pre-k, who had in turn been watching them with large black eyes. "It's just a scratch."

"Are you sure? Maybe we should've waited longer before we did this."

He hadn't meant to sound so, well, cowardly but he hadn't signed up for this only to have his brand new meister (and friend) get herself killed on her first mission. The definition of uncool.

"Well, maybe it'd be easier if you actually _helped_ me," she'd hissed, breaking him out of his pity party.

He'd blinked at her and thought, _what the fuck was he meant to do from inside his metal skin?_ But then he'd remembered one partnership classes they'd been to, how Miss Nygus had told them about what weapons did while their meisters wielded them: weapons were the strategists; while the meisters did the heavy lifting with their brawn, weapons were the brains.

At the time he'd thought it had been bullshit, Maka was clearly the brawn and the brains of their team but...at the same time, he'd known that Maka was too impulsive. He'd been silently watching her fight and wondering why she always leapt in head first instead of hanging back a few moments to further assess the situation. She didn't do it so noticeably anymore, not after that weirdo with a spear thrashed her that one time, but still.

He had gulped and said, "Well, we might get this done quicker if you didn't rush in so quickly."

"You think?" she'd said, not unkindly, glancing at him, well, his blade momentarily before focusing her attention back on the pre-k. "What should I do?"

He'd almost expected her to tell him to shut up and do as she said but was glad when she didn't.

"Make like your aiming for the arms, then go for the leg instead. Get a slice in then back off and we'll think of the next move after that."

He'd half expected her to brush him off and dive back in again anyway but instead she'd done as he suggested, feigning for the arms but then spinning away just before and hacking off a good portion of the pre-k's left leg. It had tried to swipe at her but she'd danced out of its reach, taking several steps back.

"Now, do whatever it you learn in meister class or whatever, go for the weakness," he'd said simply and she had.

Thirty seconds later the pre-k had been severed in half and its red soul had been left floating in its wake. Soul had transformed out of weapon form and stood stock still for a moment, watching the soul bob up and down as it floated.

"Go get it," Maka had said softly, giving his hand a little squeeze.

He'd blushed and pulled his hand out of her grip, he hadn't realized they were still holding hands, and walked over to the soul. He'd taken it in his hand and his belly had rumbled so he'd stuffed it straight in his mouth, chewed a little and then swallowed.

It had tasted glorious.

Then Maka had grinned and asked in a strained voice if they would see a doctor before her arm got infected.

After getting bandaged and calling Lord Death to tell him their mission had been a success, they'd gone to their hotel for the night. Maka had gone to sleep with a large grin on her face as soon as her head had hit the pillow. Soul, in the single bed across the room from hers had stayed up a little later thinking about how his meister had actually listened to his input and not just shrugged him off, like no one had ever done before.

He'd also gone to sleep with a smile on his face.

It was the first time since they'd partnered together that they'd actually worked as a team.

And years later, Soul would've said, aside from the whole terror thing, it was probably when he had started falling for her, without even knowing it.


	23. Arguing

**A/N: Consider this Part 1, tomorrow is Part 2 and 'Making Up'.**

* * *

Luke pulled the quilt over his head and curled up into a ball, but he could still hear them yelling at each other in the kitchen. He covered his ears but he could still hear them even then.

He hated it when his parents fought like this, though it wasn't actually that often. In his eight years, he could count on one hand the number of _big_ fights his mom and dad had had. Normally, he would've gone into Charlie or Gabby's room and crawled into bed with them until Mom and Dad had stopped. But Charlie had been gone for three years and Gabby had moved out a month ago to go live with her weapon.

Now it was just him, in his bedroom above the kitchen.

He was about to throw the covers back and make a run for Charlie's room, on the other side of the house, furthest away from the kitchen, when he heard something shatter in the room below and cowered back under his bed covers as Dad swore loudly.

"It's not just me anymore!" Mom screamed. "What about our _children_?!"

"That didn't seem to stop you in fucking Gibraltar, did it?" Dad roared back.

"That was different, I had no fucking _choice_—"

"Well neither did I!" Dad said and there was a bang from below. "What the _fuck_ was I supposed to do, let you take the blow?"

"Well that would've been better than _nearly getting yourself sliced in half again_!"

"Well, excuse me for trying to protect the woman _I love_."

"I appreciate it—"

"I don't think you do!"

"—but I'd rather you think of _our children_ before you try to sacrifice yourself for me!"

Dad scoffed. "Oh, _sure_, let me just think about how they're gonna feel when I explain that their fucking _mom_ died because she didn't want me to get a little scratch."

"Well, would you rather I explain that their dad died trying to save me because _he's a fucking moron_."

"You didn't have a problem with it _before_ we got married!"

"Wha—_yes I fucking did_!" Mom spluttered. "Or do you just not remember the shit that happened after Italy?"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have fucking married me!"

There was a beat of silence where Luke could hear his heart thumping in his chest.

"Wait, Maka—"

"Fine." Mom sounded close to tears. "I'll be at Tsubaki's."

"No, Maka, wait, please—!"

The front door opened, slammed and then opened again. Luke stayed where he was as he heard Dad try to talk to Mom, though they were too far away and too quiet for him to hear what words he was saying.

Then there was the sound of a car starting and driving off before everything was silent. Luke lay stock still, straining to hear anything. Eventually he heard the front door click shut and then heard Dad shuffling around in the kitchen.

He uncovered his face and tried to settle down to sleep, even though a heavy weight had settled in his chest and he felt like crying.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep (after letting slip a couple of tears) he heard his dad walk up the stairs. Suddenly his heart started racing again and he turned away from the door, lying stock still as Dad stopped outside his bedroom. The door cracked open and Luke tensed, waiting for the door to shut again and Dad to move on.

"Y'know," Dad said softly. "If you wanna convince me you're asleep, you should try breathing."

He deflated, shuffling around so he was facing the door. "Sorry," he whispered.

Dad scoffed a little and padded closer, flicking on his bedside lamp as he sat on his bed. "There's nothing to apologise for. Though I think _I_ should say sorry, Mom and I kept you up, didn't we?"

He brought the hem of his bed covers up to his nose and nodded a little. Dad's face clouded over as he looked at him before he reached out to stroke his bangs back a little.

"What's wrong? You look like you've been crying," Dad said.

He looked away and sniffed a little.

"Hey, _hey_," Dad shushed, holding his arms open. "C'mere."

He quickly shuffled out of his blankets and crawled into his dad's lap, hugging his tightly, sniffling.

Dad stroked his head and began to sway back and forth gently. "Hey, it's OK, it's _OK_. Tell me what's wrong."

He took a deep breath. "A-are you and Mom gonna split up?"

Dad sighed a little but was smiling when he looked up. "Nah, your mom and I love each other too much to ever even _think_ of splitting."

"But, you said..."

Dad sighed again. "Sometimes people says thing when they're angry that they don't really mean. Remember when Gabby and Charlie had that fight during vacation, and Gabby said that she hated Charlie and wished she'd never been born?"

He nodded.

"Do you think Gabby really meant it?"

He thought for a moment and then shook his head, looking back down and pressing the side of his face against Dad's shirt.

"See? Sometimes we say things we don't mean. That doesn't mean we shouldn't apologise for them, because we should, because even if we don't mean it, we can still hurt the other person," Dad explained softly.

"So, when Mom comes home, you're gonna apologise?" he asked.

Dad grinned. "Of course. Then we'll talk about it 'cause we're adults and then we'll be good again. And _then_~, I'll give your mom a _huge, wet smooch_!"

Then Dad tried to lean down, making kissy noises as he tried to kiss his head. He squealed and tried to push him away, giggling and flailing until Dad started chuckling as well.

Eventually they settle back down and he still tucked safely against Dad's chest.

"So, are you OK now?" Dad finally asked.

He looked back up and nodded with a gappy smile. "Yeah."

"Cool. Now, go to sleep, you've still got school in the morning."

Dad let him go and he crawled under the covers, lying down to go to sleep. Dad pressed a light kiss to his forehead and ruffled his hair.

"G'night buddy."

"Night Dad."

Dad flicked off the light and got of the bed, padding back over to the door. Just as he was about to shut it though, Luke spoke up again.

"Will Mom be home in the morning?"

"Uhh," Dad said and ran a hand through his thick white hair. "Probably not, she always stays at Aunt Tsubaki's for the night when she gets mad. But she'll be back by the time you get home from school."

"OK," he said with a yawn.

He could just about see his dad's face and the grin he wore.

"Cool dreams, Luke."

"Cool dreams, Dad."

The door shut with a small click and he drifted off to sleep.


	24. Making Up Afterwards

**A/N: Part 2, fluffy make up after the fight.**

* * *

After dropping Luke off at school, Soul drove back home. Maka's car was still absent from their driveway. He made a quick call to Kid to tell him he'd be taking the day off to deal with a personal matter and then sat down in their living room to wait for his wife.

He only had to wait another twenty-five minutes before he heard her car pull up in the driveway. He wasn't even embarrassed about memorizing the sound of her car, he'd memorized much more about her before they'd even started dating all those years ago.

When Spirit had bought her the car after Charlie was born, she refused to use it, considering it too frivolous. It wasn't until Spirit had a sudden heart attack seven months later (which he thankfully survived) that she actually started using it. It became incredibly useful after Luke was born, it allowed him to go pick up Gabby from ballet and for her to pick up Charlie from her guitar lessons and still be home at the same time.

The front door clicked open and he looked over the back of the couch at the doorway to the living room, waiting for Maka to pass through from the hall. When she did, he was struck, as he always was, with how her mere presence made his heart rate pick up and his soul hum.

She caught his eye and the corners of her lips tilted up slightly, if a little sadly.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he echoed, hanging his arm over the back of the couch and holding his hand out.

She gratefully surged forward to take his hand, rushing around the couch so she could sit next to him. He held out his arms and she dived forward so she was curled against him, and he curled around her in return.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled into her greying hair.

She sighed against his chest. "I'm sorry too. I know you're just trying to protect me, but I don't want to have to live in a world without you if I can help it."

"Neither do I."

"I know."

They were silent for a moment.

"We're never gonna stop arguing about this, are we?" Soul finally said.

Maka huffed a little laugh and shook her head. "No, I don't think we will."

He sighed in relief as the tension left both their bodies and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you."

She hummed and nuzzled against him. "I love you too."

"Couldn't sleep well last night. Bed was too cold," he mumbled into her hair.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Me neither."

"Tsubaki let you sleep on the couch?"

"Mm, no, let me use Ivy's bed."

There was another beat of silence.

"Luke's room is right above the kitchen," she said suddenly, as though she had only just realized. She shifted so she was looking up at her husband. "Is he OK?"

"Yeah, I think so." At his wife's unconvinced expression he added, "I mean, last night he was scared we were gonna split up or something, but I told him that wasn't gonna happen." Soul leaned down to kiss her gently. "He's OK. Just needs a big hug when he gets home I bet."

She smiled and shook her head fondly. "He's so much like you, such a cuddle bug."

He spluttered over-exaggeratingly, "Excuse you, Miss Touchy-feely, I don't think you help much."

"It's _Mrs_ Touchy-feely to you, bub," she teased, leaning up to press her lips to his. Then she sighed again and snuggled closer to him. "I wanna have a nap. Tired."

"Why don't we go to bed and nap for a couple of hours?" he offered. "Kid gave us the day off to sort ourselves out."

Maka was silent for a moment and Soul waited patiently for her answer.

"Yeah, OK," she finally answered softly. She moved her arms so they were around his neck and pouted. "Carry me?"

He sighed dramatically, fighting back a grin. "I _suppose_ I could." With that he swept her up into his arms with almost the same ease as he had when he was a teenager.

Once they were safely tucked in bed, tangled up together and starting to doze, Soul brought up something he had been considering for a while.

"Maybe I should retire," he said softly.

Maka cracked her eyes open and looked at him. "You love being a weapon."

"Well, yeah, but 'm not exactly _young_ anymore. I'm forty this year, you're already forty-one," he explained. "Maybe we should slow down, stop taking solo missions."

"_Us_ solo, or _solo_ solo?"

"Both."

Maka became silent. He knew this was asking a lot of her, asking her to stop doing something she loved and had worked hard for, for her entire life. But he knew she knew he was right. With age came increased risk of injury, their latest mission had proved that.

"So, we just teach? Still go on group missions? Would you give up your deathscythe title?" she said eventually.

"Yes, maybe, no. I can still do the paperwork and planning and diplomacy just fine, just don't have to go out into the field."

She took a deep breath. "Can—can we wait until Luke goes into the academy? Or at least talk about it _a lot_ more before we make a decision?"

"'course," he mumbled, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Good," she sighed, snuggling against his front.

"Let's just sleep now," he murmured. "Think about it later."

With that they fell asleep, souls humming in harmony like there had never been any disturbance.


	25. Gazing Into Each Other's Eyes

Maka panted as she relaxed into the hospital bed. Aftershocks still shook her body and the pain hadn't quite receded, but she'd done it. As a baby's cries carried through the air, she grinned a little, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes.

She glanced at her husband, who was no longer looking at her, but in the direction their daughter had been carried away to be cleaned, weighed, measured and whatnot.

"Alright Mrs Evans, just a little bit more and we'll have the placenta out, OK?" the midwife said at the end of the bed, calling her attention back to the next pressing matter.

Half an hour later she had it out, thank fucking death, and could relax. Soul stayed by her side, even when she had nearly crushed his hand, and brushed her hair back behind her ear, pulling her bangs from her sweaty forehead.

"You did it," he said in awe.

"Damn right," she replied tiredly.

He grinned and stroked her cheek, eyes misty as they met hers.

"Mr Evans," one of the nurses said from behind him.

Soul turned and Maka glanced over to see the nurse holding a little bundle in her arms. She could feel he husband's soul pulse anxiously, but giddily.

"Would you like to hold your daughter?" the nurse asked, holding out the bundle.

Soul slowly pulled his hand from hers and reached out, settling his arms into the position he'd been taught and let the nurse place the baby in the space he provided. Then the nurse stepped away as Soul slowly turned back around to face her, looking down at the bundle reverently.

Maka could only smile at the elated and awestruck look on her weapon's face.

"She's blonde," he said softly. "Like I was when I was born."

"Maybe her hair'll be like yours," she suggested.

"Or yours. It could darken."

He sat down gently on the side of the bed, keeping the baby tucked close to him.

"Look at her," he whispered, voice wavering a little.

She looked and grinned at her daughter's tiny face, her big newborn-blue eyes blinking up at them in curiosity.

"She's so beautiful," she breathed.

"Yeah," Soul said. "Just like her mama."

She giggled and sniffled a little at that.

"Wanna hold her now?" Soul asked, finally glancing up to meet her watery green eyes with equally watery red.

Unable to say anything around the lump in her throat she nodded, holding her arms out for her baby despite her exhaustion. He gently handed the bundle of blankets and baby over then settled back to watch his wife's expression.

He'd been worried when she first told him she was pregnant again, especially after the trauma she suffered from the miscarriage. But seeing the smile that lit up her face and how she blinked back tears of joy, he knew she had fully healed.

"I love you," he murmured, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the crown of her head.

She looked up at him, still smiling wide. "I love you too."

He continued to gaze into her eyes for a long moment before pressing his forehead to hers. "Thank you."

She giggled again, the sound still watery, but undeniable happy. "Thank _you_," she whispered.

"Do you have name for her?" the midwife asked suddenly, breaking the couple out of their little celebration.

Maka cleared her throat and nodded. "Yes. Charlotte Annabelle, for her great-grandmothers."

"It's a beautiful name," the midwife said as she wrote it down.

"Yes," Maka said, glancing up at her husband for a moment before looking back down at her daughter. "It is."


	26. Getting Married

**A/N: This is based on the posts of tumblr tagged 'obnoxious billionaire brothers'.**

**On a completely different note, I know people have been confused about the fate of my SoMa children OCs based on this collection. Allow me to clear that up. In ch 18, there is Gabby's funeral. This is a UA of a UA, this doesn't happen in my planned story for these babies. I just saw an opportunity for pain and took it. In ch 24 I say 'Charlie'd been gone for three years' or something like that. I mean that she'd moved out to live in the girl's dorms with her meister three years ago, not that she'd died. I'll add a little list of the babies to my profile in case people get names mixed up as well (don't worry, even I do that and I'm the one writing them!). Drop me a message if any of you guys are still unsure about the whole thing.**

* * *

Maka bit her lip to try and stop her wide grin as her bride's maids helped secure the veil to her head. She couldn't believe this was actually happening, but it was. In half an hour she would walk down the aisle to her soul-mate and marry him. She would never have expected it happen those five years ago when she took the job that introduced her to her partner.

When she had first been approached by the Evans family representatives to become the youngest Evans son's personal lawyer, she had nearly laughed in their faces. Like hell was she going to play the in-between for a rich playboy idiot and whatever angry woman he had fucked and then left. It was only after the representatives had given her a sizable cheque and told her to 'think over the wonderful opportunity' did she actually look into the man she was being asked to work for.

It turned out that billionaire Soul 'Eater' Bartholomew Evans wasn't actually any sort of playboy. He was a shy, grumpy-looking young man, two years younger than herself, whose only fault was that he had an obnoxious, though entirely playful, rivalry with his also-billionaire older brother.

After talking with the Evans family representatives a week later she found out that her job would be more like a babysitter; make sure the young Mr Evans didn't go too far in his rivalry with his brother, ensure that his music was kept copyrighted properly and keep him on track. It was simple, came with a large paycheque every month and the added bonus of having her name associated with the illustrious Evans family.

After considerable thought (she didn't need to go grey before her time _thank you very much_) she finally agreed to take it on. Admittedly her father's not-quite-fatal-but-too-close-for-comfort heart attack was what spurred her to it, just because it paid so well and her father needed the money to pay for various hospital bills.

Then came her first meeting with her client and she was entirely unprepared for how intense his burgundy eyes were or how soft his fluffy, platinum blonde hair looked or how freaking _handsome_ he was. He was shy at first, sticking to one or two word answers but he opened up once she had his brother removed by security after he kept interrupting her to try and flirt.

While Wesley Evans was charming and open where his brother was blunt and quiet, he didn't have any effect on her. Wes might have had the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen, she was unfortunately (and so fucking _annoyingly_) quite stuck on burgundy.

Soul took a strong liking to her after that, coming to visit her in her office as often as he could with various little things like a bunch of flowers, take-out for lunch, or even some books if he'd been away on tour for a while. He even made a game of trying to sneak into her office without her PA noticing. Tsubaki caught him every time, but she played along to make him feel better.

He was a little bit like a puppy really, always looking for attention and doing anything to make her smile. Soon he was inviting her on tours, taking her out to lunch, buying her jewellery and dresses and whatever he thought she would like.

In all honesty she thought it would stop after a few months, he would get bored and go back to whatever he'd been like before she had started working for him. But he didn't, he kept at it up until, eleven months later, he came into her office with a bunch of roses, blushing slightly, and asked her to go on a date with him.

Naturally the paparazzi got wind of their newfound relationship and began to follow them everywhere. However, they underestimated her abilities in court and no matter how many pictures they took, she made sure none of them ever got printed unless the magazine companies had express permission from her.

After nearly three years together (during which time she moved into his ridiculous piano shaped house) he proposed.

It was simple and quiet and, well, perfect. Naturally she said yes.

Their wedding plans were like that was well, simple and quiet, with only a select group of friends and family at a secret location to avoid the paps as much as possible. Sure, Wes tried to talk Soul into making it an extravagant affair but she put her foot down firmly, threatening to ban him from the ceremony all together if he didn't stop.

So there she was.

There was a knock on the door and her bride's maids—Tsubaki, Wes's girlfriend and her sister—took a step back and her father poked his head round the door.

He seemed to have the breath knocked out of him when he saw her, then he collected himself and asked, "Are you ready?"

Maka nodded and grinned. "Absolutely."


	27. On One of Their Birthdays

Maka awoke slowly, blinking back the fog of sleep. She sighed, bathing in the quiet of her home. It was too quiet, but then again, it'd been like that for a couple of years now.

She rose slowly, grabbing her cane as she went, making her way to the kitchen to have breakfast. Her carer, a nice young man by the name of Nicholas, was already there, preparing her porridge.

"Good morning Mrs Evans," Nick said cheerfully. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied, lowering herself into a seat slowly. "And I've told you before Nick, call me Maka."

He laughed. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that I can, _Maka_."

She nodded. "Thank you."

They talked for a while about many things, both inconsequential and important, then he made sure she knew what was happening that day and that she could dress herself. Then his face and voice softened, like he was dealing with a skittish animal.

"Would you like me to do anything extra today, Maka? Before your family visits?" he asked.

She shook her head with a slight smile. "No, but thank you for offering."

He gave her bright smile before packing up his things. "Alright, I'll be going now, plenty more people to see. You'll be alright before your family arrives?"

"I'm old but not quite useless yet young man, I'll be fine on my own for a few hours," Maka said, waving him off.

He gave her one last appraising look before leaving, throwing a cheery wave over his shoulder before shutting the door.

She sighed as she sat back in her armchair for a moment. Then she got to her feet and made her way to the kitchen again. She'd gotten Luke to get her a couple of things and now she was going to use them before anyone could chide her about it (as though she were a child and not a fully grown woman).

She pulled out a fancily decorated cupcake, candle and matches, and set them on the table. She stuck the candle in the top of the cake and lit it, though it took a few tries to light the match, what with her shaking hands.

Once the candle was lit, she stared at it for a while, then glanced over at the various photo frames that lined the walls and sat on side tables or mantles. In most of them, a man was featured, a man with white hair and red eyes, a man who was no longer with her.

Really, she'd been lucky to have him as long as she did, their job had been a dangerous one, one she could have lost him to at any time. But instead of a kishin taking him from this world, it had been a heart attack that took him in his sleep.

The first few years had been hard, she'd been with living with Soul since she was twelve and to suddenly lose him after just over seven decades together (and nearly six decades of marriage) was devastating. But she had pushed through it, for the sake of her soul mate, their children and their grandchildren.

He'd have been celebrating his eighty-ninth birthday if he hadn't died at eighty-three.

"Happy birthday my love," she whispered and blew out the candle for him.

Just after he passed, her every wish was to join him, but now that she had—dare she say it—become accustomed to his absence, she wished for a few more years with their family.

She knew that was what he would've wished for too.


	28. Doing Something Ridiculous

There were many times when Black*Star was an idiot. A certain bet involving swapping clothes for a day always came to mind. But there were a few times when Soul could appreciate the way Star thought.

Organizing a Spartoi water fight in the training area by the academy on one of the hottest days of the year was one of those times.

Soul grinned as he ran through the trees, water-gun in his hands and a messenger bag of water balloons slung over his shoulder. He could hear faint whoops and shrieks from the right and he stopped to catch his breath for a moment.

Then something wet burst against his back, soaking his tank top and he jumped with a yelp. He spun round to see his meister in short-shorts and bikini top, water gun pointed at him in one hand and another water balloon in the other.

"You should keep your guard up, Soul," she teased. "Otherwise you're a sitting duck."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't gloat!" And with that he raised his water gun and began to shoot at her.

She laughed and chucked the second water balloon (which he skilfully missed) then turned on her heel and ran. With some laughter of his own he chased after her, shooting at her whenever he got close enough (which wasn't all that often, she _was_ a meister after all).

Eventually though, he lost her, and he came to a stop to survey the forest around him. It seemed deserted but he knew better than to think that. Maka never ran away, she'd be hiding somewhere. He stood stock still, trying to listen for anything that would give him an idea as to where his partner was, eyes darting in every direction.

It was only after a few minutes of _nothing_ that he thought to even try and use their bond to find her. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, seeking out her soul. Ah, she was—!

She grabbed him from the side suddenly, tackling him to the ground with a triumphant yell. He called out in surprise, dropping his gun in order to wrap his arms around her in some sort of instinctive-protective reflex. They rolled for a little before coming to stop, with her pinning him down, smug grin on her face.

"Gotcha!" she snickered, holding his arms on the ground with her hands as she straddled his torso.

He felt the soaked messenger bag press against his side uncomfortably. "And destroyed all my amo," he chided softly, unable to keep the grin off his face. It was always a treat to have a half naked meister on top of him, having a _wet_, half naked meister on top of him was even better.

"Good," she said. "Now you can't use some underhanded move to get me."

He scoffed. "I think you're confusing me with Star."

They fell silent for a moment, staring at each other under the mottled sunlight through the trees' leaves.

Maka started giggling. "You have leaves in your hair."

"I wonder whose fault _that_ is, **hmmm**?" he said, looking at her pointedly as she kept giggling.

"Oh my poor, abused weapon," she said in a teasing coo, puckering her lips together as she said it. "How_ever_ will you cope?"

"Well, a kiss would be a great start," he rumbled, giving her what he hoped was a smouldering look.

She squeaked and pinked, grip on his wrists tightening. They'd both felt the mounting sexual tension between them for a while but neither had said anything about it. Soul knew she could take his comment in two ways: an invitation to progress further, or a joke so that they could pretend to ignore their chemistry for a little bit longer. He waited patiently as she thought about it, watching her look at something just beside his left ear.

A slow smile tugged her lips up and she met his gaze. "Where?" she whispered, leaning down towards his face.

"W-what?"

"Where do you want me to kiss you?"

A silly grin spread across his face as he felt his cheeks heat up. "W-well." He stopped and cleared his throat. "Most people go for the lips first, so if y—mpf!"

She ducked down and silenced him by pressing her lips firmly to his. He tensed for a moment, half expecting her to suddenly Maka-chop him or for him to wake up from this wonderful dream. But neither of these things happened, so he sighed and relaxed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her when she let go of his wrists to tangle her hands in his hair.

He hummed when she opened her lips slightly, and started to nibble on the bottom one, feeling a little spark of heat go down his spine when she moaned into his mouth.

They rolled in synch, moving her under him, lips detaching for a short moment to breathe before reconnecting.

On the other side of the woods, Black*Star stopped his assault on Kid as Liz stood between them, holding her hands up in the agreed 'Time Out' sign.

"Do you know where Soul and Maka have gone?" she asked, glancing over to Kid as well so he knew he was being asked as well. "I haven't seen them in a while."

Black*Star scoffed. "They're probably havin' sex or—OW! _Bakiiii_!" He whined and rubbed his arm dramatically, looking to his weapon who had materialised out the shadows beside him.

"I'm serious! I hope they haven't skipped out on us, we're supposed to be getting dinner together after this!" Liz exclaimed, waving her arms about.

"I'm a little worried too," Tsubaki chimed, twisting her hands together slightly. "I hope one of them isn't sick or anything."

"Guys," Kid began. "They're still here, I can sense them. They're fine."

The shadow weapon seemed put at ease at that and nodded while the demon gun looked at him, knowing his tone meant something.

"Though they probably don't want to be disturbed right now," the Shinigami continued, with a deliberately nonchalant voice and Liz squealed in excitement before running off somewhere.

Black*Star stared at him for a moment before lecherous grin grew on his face. "Hah! Knew Soul wouldn't wait too long! I'm _so_ gonna grill him when he's finished!"

Tsubaki smacked him on the back of the head, to which he smiled sheepishly before returning to soaking Kid.


	29. Doing Something Sweet

Maka knew she was very lucky to have the partner she did. Sure, Soul could be blunt to the point of being mean and prickly and antisocial but he was also unerringly loyal and sweet.

Nowadays she often found herself feeling incredibly grateful she had approached the sullen looking albino boy at the back of the room all those years ago. At the time it had been entirely mercenary, she had been looking for a scythe, Sid said the boy at the back was a scythe and that was all she cared about. But as the years passed, she was glad she had picked him, glad she had the chance to get to know him, fall in love with him.

Soul really was something else.

She was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of the front door slamming. She rolled her eyes and sniffled as she felt her partner come towards her room. There was a knock at her door and she grinned, coughing a little before telling him to come in.

Soul stuck his head round the door to look at her, somewhat sheepish. "Did you get some more sleep today?" he asked.

The bed sheets rustled as she moved. "A little." She pouted and sniffed again. "I hate being sick."

He scoffed as he came into the room, walking to her bed to sit on the edge, balancing his back-pack on his lap. "Well, you insisted on chasing that pre-kishin through the storm without a proper jacket."

"Gee, thanks _mama_," she teased, but the effect was lost when she started coughing again.

Soul sighed and picked up the glass by her bedside. "Drink."

She did and her coughing subsided. She cleared her throat and looked at him expectantly.

He rolled his eyes and opened his bag, pulling out a series of sheets. "Here's the homework as well as Ox's notes, you freaking bookworm." The nickname was too affectionate to really be teasing. "Even when you're sick you still do all this shit."

"Well, I don't wanna fall behind," she murmured, taking the packet of sheets and leafing through it. "Then it'll be harder to catch up later, I'm already gonna have to do extra training to make up for the bed-rest."

He sighed again and muttered about stupid nerds making themselves even sicker because they wouldn't let themselves rest, which she pointedly ignored. Then he pulled something else out of his bag, a small paper bag that was slightly scrunched up. Her attention moved from the school papers to what he was holding and he grinned.

He turned the bag around dramatically to reveal the name of the shop it was from, grinning wider when she squealed and ripped the bag from his hand.

"Ahhh, thank you, Soul!" she exclaimed, reaching out for a hug for a moment before remembering the diseased nature of her current existence. She opened the bag reverently, looking through its contents. "What'd you get?"

"Uh, mostly hard candies because those are better for colds. You like the peach flavour right? It was like, five for the price of four but I could only think of four you liked," he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Mmm, yeah," she said, unwrapping one of the plastic bags in the paper bag and pulling out a hard candy, popping it straight into her mouth, moaning slightly at the taste. "Thank you."

He snickered a little and ruffled her hair. "It's cool, figured I should get you something to make up for leaving you alone."

"I'm fine, it's just a cold," she said, rolling the candy around in her mouth.

"I know, but I know you get lonely, so, uh, yeah."

She giggled a little as he flushed. "Aww," she teased. "Sweets from a sweetie."

He blushed a little darker and glared weakly. "Shut up," he mumbled.

She grinned. "I'd give you a kiss but I'm gross at the moment, so maybe not."

He scoffed again, still blushing. "Well, I guess I'll just have to settle for this." Then he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Get better soon, Maka," he whispered. "I wanna have a proper kiss soon."

Then he reached into the paper bag and pulled out a couple of candies, making a break for it before she could react and smack him. Unfortunately, he forgot she always kept a book with her and she nailed him in the back of the head just before he could make it round the door.


	30. Doing Something Hot

**A/N: This is slightly NSFW, but not very much.**

**And so I've finished the challenge, a couple days late but better late than never, right? I hope you've enjoyed reading all these, I've had a lot of fun writing them. Now I'm off to work on my resbang fic so I might not post much until December, especially since I start university at the end of September but we'll see how it goes, eh?**

* * *

It was freaking hot in the club. The heat of the bodies packed together under the millions of lights alone made sweat break out across his forehead and trickled down his neck. Then there was also the impossible heat of his meister's body pressing against his as they 'danced' to the dangerously loud music.

Maka had her back to his front, swaying from side to side as his hands on her hips guided her. Her arms were thrown back so that one hand could tangle in his hair and the other could grab a handful of his shirt. She was sweating as well, he could taste the salt on her skin when he kissed her neck. She would jolt each time his teeth pricked her skin and he distantly wished she would turn around so he could kiss her properly, and maybe convince her to go somewhere private with him.

As though she had heard his thoughts (which was quite possible given how effortlessly they resonated nowadays, almost without noticing), she turned and pressed herself flush against him. She grabbed his hair again and tugged his mouth down to hers, letting him take her breath away. He almost melted into her embrace, hands tickling down her sides to grab her delightful ass.

There was no way she couldn't feel how hard he was for her already, it was just impossible, but she kept to just kissing him soundly. He rocked his hips against her slightly when he couldn't take the heat anymore and that was when she finally pulled away.

"You want something?" she asked, sounding like a whisper over the music.

"You," he simply mouthed, not even bothering to try and speak.

She grinned and grabbed his hand, tugging him through the crowd on the dance floor and towards the door.

They had come to the club as a group with the rest of Spartoi but he couldn't see any of them around so he let Maka pull him out the door without resistance. As soon as they were outside he wanted to pull her to him and kiss her again but they were too close to other people, so he restrained himself and waited till they were round the corner where he had parked the bike.

Instead of swinging himself onto the bike he pushed her against it, wrapping his arms around her waist so she didn't fall off the other side as he kissed her. She hummed against his mouth and parted her lips so her tongue could come out and tease his.

He moaned and pressed his body flush against her, hot as hell for her but not quite drunk enough (or desperate enough) to want to try and convince her to let him fuck her out here on the bike seat.

"Mmm, _Soul_," she moaned quietly, running her hands through his hair. She pulled back and looked at him with hooded eyes. "Let's go home."

He smirked and ran a hand through her loose hair. "M'kay," he murmured but kissed her again instead of moving.

He did that a few more times, kissing her deeper and harder each time until she pulled away with a little exasperated laugh.

"I thought you said you wanted me," she said, pouting a little.

He chuckled and squeezed her hip with one hand. "I do, but your lips are so damn irresistible, I can't help myself. Just _looking_ at you makes me hot."

The dim street lamps gave just enough light for him to see her faint blush.

"Shut up and get on the bike, idiot," she mumbled with a small smile.

He scoffed and tugged on a bit of her hair gently before swinging himself onto the bike, turning on the engine as he waited for her to wrap her arms around him.

As she did so, she muttered a little "You make me hot too", which made him grin stupidly and made heat settle in his abdomen.

Once she was settled he gave her one last heated look over his shoulder before shooting off towards their apartment.

He was definitely going to show her how hot she got him, and revel in the fact he got her hot in return.


End file.
